


CSI: SHIELD

by TiffanyF



Series: CSI: SHIELD [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), CSI: Miami, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU, M/M, ooc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-18
Updated: 2014-08-24
Packaged: 2017-12-29 19:40:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 39
Words: 31,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1009270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TiffanyF/pseuds/TiffanyF
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SHIELD has a CSI department based out of Miami Florida. They're the ones going in to investigate problems both natural and supernatural (and alien and tech as well). These are the teams that will bring crime scene investigation to the halls of SHIELD. Don't own, don't claim, no money made here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> All right, guys, please leave me comments suggesting possible cases for the teams to investigate. What do you want to see Horatio's teams go out and investigate? 
> 
> This one will probably not be an every day updated piece, if only because cases take me time to work out, but I'll do my best to keep it going at a steady pace.
> 
> Please enjoy. :)

Horatio looked around his new lab with a smile. Tony Stark had outdone himself with adapting existing lab equipment for them and Horatio was fairly certain they would be able to handle almost anything their assignments threw at them. One of the dwarves, small robots controlled by two of his new lab techs, FitzSimmons, buzzed past his head, heading somewhere to do something. Horatio was curious to find out how well they would be able to be adapted to crime scene work. Everything he'd seen of them so far impressed him.

"Hey, Horatio, Director Fury is here," Ryan Wolfe, his second in command at the lab said, poking his head into the lab. "Tony get things finished up in here?"

"A few hours ago," Horatio said. "I've been calibrating everything with JARVIS's help."

"He left you JARVIS?" Fury asked, striding into the room.

"Hello, Nick," Horatio replied with a smile. "He did, both here and at my house. I think that Tony's worried that some of the people out to hurt the Avengers might get wind of us down here and try something designed to hurt Clint."

Fury sighed. "I swear that Stark is attempting to take over the tech world with JARVIS," he said. "I'm here to give your new people a talking to and then I want a tour of the base."

"Easy enough," Horatio said with a smile. "Everyone is in the break-room finishing up their paperwork. It's down the hall this way."

"Is Grant's office up and running too?" Fury asked as they started down the hall.

"Last week," Horatio replied. "They've already had a couple of teams go out to check on reports, but nothing came of them. I think Grant had an easier time starting up because he didn't have to wait on lab equipment."

"I'll be interested to see how Stark's modifications work," Fury said. "Is that one of the dwarves?"

"They're getting the lay of the land," Horatio said with a smile. "Hello Dopey, where are you off to?"

"You can tell them apart, Horatio? I'm impressed," Fury said. "They all look the same to me."

"Fitz and Simmons have been teaching me more about them," Horatio said. He caught the dwarf gently. "I think that the pair is onto something that will be a new step in crime scene investigation if we can get things fine tuned and the price of construction down a little. Jemma, I found one of your boys in the hall."

She looked up. "Thank you, Horatio," Simmons said with a small smile. "We're just letting them fly about for a bit, though Grant wants us to take them over to the vegetation at the edge of the base and make sure there's nothing hiding in there that shouldn't be. Oh, Director Fury, Sir, I didn't see you there."

"You enjoying your posting here, Simmons?" Fury asked.

"Oh, yes Sir," Simmons said. "Horatio and Grant have been wonderful, and the new teams are great."

"Good, I'm glad to hear it," Fury said. "This everyone, Horatio?"

Horatio did a quick headcount, and noticed how many of the new staff were staring at them. "We're missing Fitz," he said.

"He's just outside," Simmons said. "I'll get him for you."

"Everyone have their paperwork finished and ready to go back to the human resources department?" Horatio asked. "I need that by the end of the day so we can declare ourselves officially open for business and ready to travel. Stack it on the table there by the door. Ryan, will you make sure it gets to my office, please?"

"Sure thing, H," Ryan said with a smile.

Fury looked over the group. He didn't smile, no one seemed to expect him to, but he wasn't frowning nearly as deeply as he usually did. "This is something new for SHIELD, something I've been debating for a long time, but never had cause to bring into play until recently," he said. "You are working for my office directly. Your orders will come from either me or from one of my two hands; Stephen Green or Phil Coulson. Anyone else tries to give you an order, you tell Horatio and he'll tell me. Your job is to work out what's happened whenever you get sent in. Horatio showed how it works when he investigated an assault against two of my top operatives. You follow his lead, learn from him, and you'll all do just fine. You will all be receiving training in fire arms and self-defense. Horatio's partner will be teaching you fire arms over the next three weeks. Then a series of self-defense instructors will come through, including the Black Widow. She'll be the last one and if she doesn't like what she sees, you don't qualify. If you're one of the field teams, you will be receiving additional training that lab staff does not, but everyone in this room will be receiving the basics. There is no discussion available on that one." He looked around at everyone and nodded. "All right, you turn in your paperwork by the end of the day, this lab is officially in business. Horatio, show me around the base."

Horatio waited until they were well clear of the lab building before he looked over. "Nick, I think that you're going to have to take a different tactic to train FitzSimmons in weapons and self-defense," he said softly. "Would you be willing to let me work with them for a couple of weeks before you even think about trying to put them on the sparring mats with an instructor?"

"We can't handle them with kid gloves, Horatio. I need to know they'll be available for assignment when I need them to be."

"That's all well and good, but you could hurt them worse and lose them before you have them in the new initiative you're planning," Horatio said. "Give me two weeks, Nick. Let me see what I can do before you put them in with the rest of the group."

Fury glanced over at him. "Do you know how many people would ask me for a favor like this, Horatio?"

"No one, I would imagine."

"You're right."

Horatio smiled. "Nick, for this to work, you're going to have to trust my judgement on some things," he said. "You're the boss, but you've got a lot going on every day. If you don't want to agree right away, ask Phil what he thinks about it."

"When we said we needed someone that is good at politics, I never thought it'd be used against me," Fury sighed. "Fine, two weeks, but not a day more. I have plans in place and I need to know they can be implemented in time."

"Two weeks," Horatio said. "Thank you, Nick."


	2. Chapter 2

"Grant's already had to send teams out to a couple of places around the south, but nothing came of the reports," Horatio said as he and Fury continued their walk around the base. "I have to admit that I'm really wondering how many of the reports we're going to be getting are fake."

"People saw the alien invasion in New York, there was no way to keep the news agencies off a story that big, it's going to get a lot of folks wanting attention thinking," Fury said. "Air strip looks good. I haven't seen the final numbers here, what am I looking at?"

Horatio looked around the field. "Grant," he called, "come over here." He lowered his voice. "This is his side of things."

"I think the two of you will do just fine," Fury said. "Grant."

"Director Fury, Sir, welcome to the base," Grant said with a smile. "You guys get the lab open and ready for business, Horatio?"

"We did, although we're going to keep running hypotheticals until a case comes in," Horatio said. "Nick wants to know the final numbers on planes and staff."

Grant nodded. "Six planes of varying size, two large enough to get us down into South America if we need to track something down there," he said. "Twenty pilots on rotation, a hundred agents and a full medical department. Then there's cars, a couple of vans, and other equipment."

"Which I'm sure I'll find paperwork on when I'm back in my office," Fury said. "Damn stuff keeps multiplying every time I turn my back. I'm still not convinced there's not some paper alien living in my office, but no one can find anything."

"I could bring FitzSimmons in to have a look," Horatio said, trying not to smile. He knew exactly what Fury was talking about with paperwork. "They've been wanting to let the dwarves explore more, and it would be interesting to see what we can find."

"What the hell, why not?" Fury said. "I'm in the Helicarrier office full time now. Give me a day to disable a few of the weapons I have set to hurt anyone that goes in there without my permission and then come on up. Grant, you have the jets here to ferry staff up to the Helicarrier?"

"Yes, Sir," Grant said. "I'll have a team ready to take Horatio and his people up in the morning."

Fury nodded. "All right, then I'm calling this base officially open for business and all that crap. Horatio, start training your people in fire arms. I want to see scores coming in by the end of the week. We'll be sending your people out starting next week, I've already got two cases I think need investigators more than agents. I'll see you both later."

Horatio looked over at his lover with a wry grin. "You are still going to help me with training, right?"

"Of course, and I have a couple of people picked out to help too," Grant said with a matching grin. "It sounds to me like Nick is going to be sending your teams out quite a lot."

"Which means I'll have to go along the first couple of times," Horatio said. "They're good in the theory, but I want to make sure their application of the theory is just as good."

"Then I'll just have to hope the assignments aren't that long," Grant said. "Are you going to be home for supper tonight?"

"I'm planning on it," Horatio said. "I'll see you then."

"See you tonight."


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, Horatio left Ryan in charge of the lab and took FitzSimmons up to the Helicarrier. He wasn't really expecting to find anything in Fury's office, but he wanted to let his shyest pair get as much travel and scene experience as possible. They'd never been up to the Helicarrier before and stood on the deck for a minute just looking around at everything. "What do you think, guys?" Horatio asked with a smile.

"It's amazing," Simmons said, glancing back at him. "It really can fly too?"

"So I've heard. I've never actually been on-board when it's been up in the air, but Clint has," Horatio said. "Director Fury."

"Horatio. FitzSimmons," Fury said. "We've been letting her sit rather than fly while we make some repairs and adjustments. You give it time, you'll have a chance to come up when she's in the air. My office is this way."

Horatio motioned for FitzSimmons to go ahead of him down the hall. He wasn't fond of cramped spaces, but had to admit that whoever designed the Helicarrier had done a good job to balance size with functionality and space. Horatio watched FitzSimmons as they looked around at everything, but also noticed that they stuck close together. "What all do you want us to scan for, Nick?" he asked once they were in the office with the door shut behind them.

"Tell me what all the dwarves can do," Fury said.

"Right now we can scan for biologicals, mineral, chemical and other trace residue," Fitz said. "Along with an x-ray ability, heat detection, and alien traces. Admittedly the alien traces is a problem, but Doc is doing the best he can."

Fury nodded. "It sounds to me like you have the basics covered," he said. "I sent out a notification that the entire Helicarrier was going to be scanned today for anything that I don't like. Think your dwarves are up to it?"

"Yes Sir."

"Absolutely."

"Then let's start in here and you can spread out from my office," Fury said.  
****

"I think they have more confidence now than they did when they posted to Miami," Fury said, watching FitzSimmons pilot the dwarves around the Helicarrier. They'd brought the pair up to the bridge for a more central location to work from. All they'd found in Fury's office was a nest of mice in his desk. He planned to keep them and said he would train them to spy on everyone for him. 

"I think having someone who will listen to them and is able to understand is helping a lot," Horatio said softly. "I've been working with them more than I have the others because I really think that the dwarves would be a benefit to crime labs and want to learn as much about them as I can. Ryan's been handling the other teams and they're ready to deploy out whenever you have a case for us."

Fury nodded. "There's a site out in Colorado that I want checked," he said. "Locals say a UFO landed out in the forest and I've got a team on site. They say there's something there, but can't work out where it went."

"Sounds interesting," Horatio said with a smile. "I also have the perfect team to go in and work it."

"You'll be going along?"

"For a couple of days at least. They're ready, but they still need either myself or Ryan to be with them for questions that come up. Just like any new group starting out."

"True."

"Director Fury, Sir, I think we've found something you need to see," Fitz said.

Fury walked over and looked over the shorter man's shoulder. "Tell me what I'm seeing," he said.

"This is down on the crew levels. I thought it was a still at first, but the readings aren't right," Fitz said.

"Then we'll just have to see what's down there," Fury said.  
****

"Are you stupid?" Fury demanded, glaring at the man that owned the illegal still. "Brewing alcohol on a military vessel might be tradition, but brewing it on my boat when you don't know if there's going to be an alien attack? That's beyond stupid. This isn't even alcohol as a human would qualify it, so I want to know who you got these things from and why you thought it would be a good idea to use alien ingredients in a still."

"I thought it would have more of a kick," the man said.

"A kick," Fury repeated. "You want a kick? The Black Widow is looking for a new sparring partner while Agent Barton is recovering from a mission. I think that once you spar against her, you'll never want any sort of kick again. Lieutenant Caine and his team will be taking everything back to their labs to break it down and you, soldier, are heading to the brig. Right now I can only charge you with stupidity, but I'm going to talk with medical and make sure you haven't poisoned any of your fellow agents pawning this shit off onto them. Get him out of my sight."

Horatio looked over from boxing up glassware. "I'm fairly sure that alcohol isn't supposed to glow, Director," he said. "We'll have a report for you first thing tomorrow."

"Thank you, Horatio," Fury said. "FitzSimmons, good work. You may have just saved the lives of several agents."

"You did good Leo, Jemma," Horatio said as Fury stalked off down the hall. "Come on, let's finish packing up and head home. I'm curious to find out what all is in here and exactly what it would have done to a human if ingested."


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey Horatio, which team did you want to send out to this UFO mystery?" Ryan asked the next morning.

"Andrea's team," Horatio replied. "I was going to go, but I've got these tests to run for Fury. Feel like a trip, Ryan?"

Ryan grinned. "Sure. I'm not sure what I make of all of this, but a crime scene should talk to me no matter what," he said. "I'll call if I need your advice on anything."

"Call me when you get there so I know you're on the ground," Horatio said. "Nick's sent along all the information he has from the team already there. Grant's sending a couple of our men as guards for you because we haven't had a chance to start weapons or self-defense with our people. Be careful out there, Ryan."

"We will, H. Talk to you in a few hours."

"Sounds good. Jemma?"

Simmons held out a folder. "Fitz and I were finally able to break down what all was in that alcohol, Horatio," she said. "The new equipment Tony gave us was having trouble with it, but we've had some experience with alien trace materials, so we were able to figure it out in the end."

"Walk me through it," Horatio said. He took the folder and motioned for her to start back down the hall. "Grant's expecting you guys, Ryan."

"See you later then."

"Field postings already?" Simmons asked.

"Possible UFO," Horatio replied. "We'll hear more about it when Ryan and the team get there. What am I looking at here?"

"Well, you have your basic homemade alcohol ingredients, which we expected to find," Simmons said. "Then you have the extras that shouldn't have been in there. The good news is that no one has tasted any of this."

"How do you know?"

"This metal here, it's a low level trace, but it's present in the alcohol," Simmons said. She pushed the door to the lab she shared with Fitz open and went in. "It's also extremely toxic and would have killed a human instantly should it have been ingested."

Fitz held up a pipe in his gloved hands. "It wasn't added intentionally, if that counts for anything," he said. "This pipe here is made from the metal. We don't have a name for it because it's not of Earth origin. I'm not even sure where the soldier would have found it, to be honest, but this was part of his still and when the alcohol flowed through here, it picked up traces of the metal."

"Is this what was making it glow?" Horatio asked.

"Partially," Simmons replied. "The combination of this metal with a salt from the hoses the man was using caused the alcohol to glow. This still was pieced together on the Helicarrier, so I think you need to let Director Fury know that he needs to search for other things that are missing. He also needs to be sure the pieces of the ship that are replaced are disposed of properly. This probably isn't the only creation from scrap parts, just the only one we were able to pick up on the scan."

Horatio sighed. "I'm sure that this will just make his day," he said. "Good work, both of you. Let's get this metal broken down to its elemental base and enter those numbers into the computer and GCMS. Give Tony a call if you're not sure how to do it yourself."

"All right."

"Easy enough."

"Thank you," Horatio said with a fond smile. "I'll go and phone Fury's office. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't start turning the Helicarrier inside out to be sure there isn't anything else of alien origin onboard."

"I wonder how it got there in the first place," Fitz commented. "There's never been aliens on the Helicarrier."

"Other than Loki, but he was isolated," Simmons added.

"If I had to take a guess, this is part of one of the small ships that invaded New York," Horatio said. "An agent helping with clean-up brought it back to the Helicarrier and it ended up where it shouldn't have been. That's the easiest explanation for it."

"Which means something else happened," Fitz said with a small smile. "Easiest isn't usually right in SHIELD, Horatio."

Horatio smiled. "Good to know," he said. "Let me know when you have that metal broken down. I'll be curious to see what it's made of."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to keep an on-going list of the teams and lab techs (and other members of the base) on my journals.
> 
>  
> 
> http://lexxiescott.dreamwidth.org/463391.html
> 
>  
> 
> http://lexxiescott.livejournal.com/700198.html
> 
> If you're on either site and want to friend me, go ahead. I really love making new fandom friends. :)

The mid-range deployment jets weren't exactly what Ryan was used to, but the area in the back was open and quiet enough that he was able to brief his team. Once they'd taken Randy off the team - the man was somewhere in the Middle East learning about bombs and why they were bad - and put Charlie on the team, the four had gelled into a group almost as close as a family. Andrea was the team leader and would eventually be in charge when they were out in the field. Tim and Jake rounded out the team, both young men right out of college, but smart and willing to learn.

"Okay, so the reports coming in look about what you would expect for a UFO siting," Ryan said as he handed out briefing packets. "Bright light in the sky fell and hit the ground. Local police went in and found a crater, but it was empty. There were tracks leading away from it. They reported it to the feds who reported it to us. What options do you think we're looking at here guys?"

"Well, we know aliens are real," Tim said. He pushed his brown hair back off his forehead, even though it flopped back over immediately. "So we can't rule out UFO as the actual answer. The question there would be what sort of alien are we looking at."

"True, aliens are real and they could have crashed here," Ryan said. "We're keeping that as an option, Tim, but what else could have caused this."

"Fireworks combined with a bomb and some sort of heavy machinery to make the tracks leading away," Andrea said, looking at the pictures included in the packet. "Those look like a heavy tread, like you'd find on a loader of some sort."

Ryan nodded. "Good. What else?"

"High school kids playing around?" Jake said.

"Could be," Ryan said. "We had a case in Miami, back before I was with the team, where a tortured man was found hanging in a tree. Our ME couldn't even count the number of injuries he suffered before he died before she got him back and on the table. Horatio and the team thought it was a cult or some kind of ritual killing, especially after they found out the man was a teacher that regularly degraded his students in class and taught about hate through the ages. Turned out he was running an experiment on one of the students and pushed her too hard. She broke and killed him."

"So you're saying the most obvious might be hiding within the least obvious," Andrea said.

"Pretty much, yeah," Ryan grinned. "I guess I was trying to tell you not to get tunnel vision on one idea and lose sight of other options. When we get on scene, I'm going to take a look at everything, but you guys are going to be investigating the scene. I'll be watching closely to be sure you don't miss anything and we'll get this figured out."

"What if we can't?" Charlie asked. "I mean, what if we collect all the evidence we can and still can't work it out."

"If that happens, we'll call Horatio and have him come in," Ryan replied. "I've seen him do the near impossible with evidence and cases and you'll be able to learn a lot from him. I know that I have, and I'm looking forward to teaching some of it to you."  
****

Horatio put his phone down and leaned back in his chair. Going back up to the Helicarrier and arranging for the bases around New York to be checked for alien materials wasn't something he was really looking forward to. Still, he knew who could help him out. "JARVIS, how good are you at scanning for alien trace?"

"Regrettably, Sir, not very," JARVIS said. "Mr. Stark is attempting to write a program for me that will help on that level, but for now, I'm barely able to pick up the basics."

"Could you patch me into Tony, please?" Horatio asked. "I need to ask him a few questions."

"Of course, Sir, one moment."

Horatio figured that Fury had to have some sort of past with JARVIS to not like the AI. He found JARVIS to be helpful and discrete when needed. Having him at the lab and home just made Horatio feel that much more secure about what he was doing with SHIELD. 

"Horatio?"

"Hello, Tony, I have a question for you," Horatio said, leaning forward.

"JARVIS told me alien trace," Tony said. "What's going on?"

"We found someone making alcohol with alien materials," Horatio said. "Fury wants my team to check the bases men who helped clean up New York are assigned to, but we think there's more on the Helicarrier and the dwarves only picked up on the one piece."

Tony nodded. "So you need a way to scan for alien materials and trace that will find everything, if only to make Fury happy," he said. "Let me come down and talk with FitzSimmons. I bet we can totally rock the dwarves and get you ready for whatever Fury throws at you."

"Thanks, Tony, I would appreciate it," Horatio said.

"No problem. I've been living in the expanded world a little longer and have some ideas that you would have come up with eventually," Tony said. "I'll fill Cap in, suit up and be there in an hour max. Does that work?"

"That's perfect, Tony, thank you," Horatio smiled. "I'll be sure to have some lunch waiting for you."

"You don't have to, Horatio."

"FitzSimmons and I need to eat, Tony, you may as well join us."

"Evil man, Horatio. You're totally using your parenting skills on me," Tony said with a grin. "Okay, fine, lunch. Cool. Food. I can eat. Be there in a bit."

Horatio managed not to laugh until the feed was dead. "JARVIS, has Tony eaten anything today?" he finally asked.

"Nothing that would qualify as food, Sir," JARVIS said. "Do you want me to place an order for you?"

"Yeah, and give the front gate a heads-up that it's coming," Horatio said. "I'm going to go let FitzSimmons know that Tony's on the way in. Hopefully they can get their nerves under control in an hour."


	6. Chapter 6

"Okay, one of the first things you want to remember is that your approach to a crime scene is just as important as the scene itself," Ryan said. "So that means we're going to need pictures of everything as we go in. Tim, you're the best photographer we have on the team, you take care of that. Go in first and take pictures of the ground and trees around us. Charlie, Jake, you two figure out what you'll need first once you're in there and bring it with you. Most of the gear should stay out here and we'll use a single path to get back to it as we need to. Andrea, you go and talk to the agents that came in and see if the locals are around. Talk with them and see what all they can tell you."

"What are the pictures for?" Jake asked, setting down the cases he'd been carrying.

"This shows us what the ground looked like before we walked over it," Ryan replied. "We need to be sure that we're not going to lose an important piece of evidence because we walked on it. The tales I can tell you of firefighter boots."

Andrea laughed. "I can imagine," she said. "Can I take one of the guards with me, Ryan?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Ryan said. "All right, let's get to work."

The trees around them were tall pines mainly with a mix of leafy trees that Ryan had no clue what they were. The team moved in slowly and Ryan took his own pictures of the trees, noting where branches had snapped and that there was definitely something that crashed through from above. The angle of the breaks was wrong to have been done from below, and there was no easy way to climb up the trees to break the branches. That wasn't to say someone hadn't, and Ryan made a mental note to check the trunks for marks once his team was working.

"This is a crater," Charlie commented. "Deep impact, too. Whatever hit here hit hard."

"Okay, this is an impact crater not an explosion from anything buried," Ryan said. "You can tell by the way the dirt hasn't resettled down into the crater except where those treads pushed it down and in. Any radiation we need to worry about?"

"We're good to go," Jake said.

Ryan turned in a slow circle. "Guys, what's wrong with the story we've been told so far?" he asked.

"Bright light, something crashed, empty crater when the locals arrived, treads heading out into the woods," Tim said.

"Look at the trees," Ryan said.

"Oh." Jake said.

"Yeah, oh," Ryan agreed. "Guys, the trees aren't broken along the path of those treads. From the size I would guess that we were looking at something like the front-end diggers you can rent for heavy duty yard work. Easily as large as a car. So how did they get it into the trees without hurting any of them?"

"They're aliens?" Charlie asked.

"If that's going to be the answer for everything, I think I understand why Fury has us out here rather than a standard team," Ryan said. He pulled out his new phone and called Horatio. "Hey, you have a second to look at the scene over the phone, H?"

"Of course, let me see."

Ryan turned his phone around and slowly turned in a circle so Horatio could see the basics. "There's something not right here, Horatio," he said.

"I can see that," Horatio said. "Take me over closer to where the treads enter the forest, please."

"You guys start gathering soil samples and measure the depth of the crater," Ryan said. "Carefully. Don't fall in there."

"I agree with the reports that something crashed there," Horatio said. "However, I don't know that it was a UFO, Mr. Wolfe."

"I'm starting to agree with you on that one, H," Ryan said with a small grin. He'd missed hearing Horatio call him that, something he never thought possible back the first few times he'd heard it. "Well, whatever it is didn't go into the woods this way."

"No it didn't," Horatio said, "so that means someone else was involved. Check for other tire tracks, possible elimination of evidence, and then call me back. I think that someone out there doesn't want SHIELD to know what landed."

Ryan grinned. "That just makes me want to find it, H," he said. "Talk to you in a bit."


	7. Chapter 7

Horatio was in the break room with FitzSimmons when Tony walked in carrying the case his suit folded up into. "Alien trace," he said. "Alien materials, and alien body parts. Okay, not body parts, at least I hope not. It was a bit hard to account for everything post battle because we'd blown so many things up, but I think we managed to get and burn all the body parts."

"I certainly hope so," Fitz said. "That's just wrong."

"Definitely Star Wars though," Simmons added. "We had a thought, Tony, that if we're looking for materials that are alien in nature, then we should program our equipment to look for things it doesn't know, but then we got stuck on how to actually do that."

"Good, that's a good start," Tony said. He picked up a piece of pizza and flipped a chair around to sit down. "The trick with anything alien is that it's going to have traces of radiation that are different than any type of radiation we have here on Earth because...."

"It's been in space," Fitz said.

"Exactly," Tony grinned. "So you need to program for a combination of alien radiation and alien material. It's hard to program for an unknown, trust me, I've tried. JARVIS said it gave him a headache. I pointed out that he doesn't even have a head and he still said he had a headache. Took the next two days off as sick leave too."

"I learned from the best, Sir."

Horatio bit his lip, trying not to smile. He'd missed Tony. "Do you think you can help us get something ready, Tony?" he asked. "Nick wants us in place the day after tomorrow."

"We can totally rock this," Tony said. "You should have everything I need, and maybe I can even work out that small scanner for the suit I've been fighting with. That would be a good thing. We need a lab and let me see what tech you have."

"Leo, Jemma, go ahead and set up in your lab, please," Horatio said. "We'll be there in a minute."

"What's up, Horatio?"

"How's Clint doing?"

Tony took off his sunglasses and tucked them into his pocket. "His eyes are fine, just as good as they ever were," he said. "He's in surgery today, they're stabilizing his pelvis and femurs. Once they do that, the doctors think he'll be able to start walking a little on his own."

"He had so many broken bones," Horatio said softly. "To be where he is now is amazing. To be able to requalify for field duty, that will be a miracle."

"Clint's at the New York base. You should be able to see him when you're up there scanning things," Tony said. "Just let Nick know you want to have lunch with your son. I don't think he'll say no."

"I'll do that, thank you," Horatio said with a smile. "Do you need my help with this tech project?"

"Are you trying to get out of something else?"

"No, but Grant has people that can help teach firearms if I'm in the middle of something."

"We'll be okay for now," Tony said. "I promise not to blow anything up. I've seen your shooting scores. Your people can do worse than have you as a teacher."

Horatio nodded. "All right, but call me if you need me," he said. "I've always been a very hands-on supervisor and I'm not planning to change that."

"I don't think you should," Tony said, snagging another piece of pizza. "I think that's exactly what you should be doing, especially once the base is fully operational and you have teams out in the field that will need your help. You're a remarkable man, Horatio, and you inspire others to do their best. That's what we need in this world right now."

"Thank you," Horatio said softly.


	8. Chapter 8

Ryan stood back and looked around the crime scene. There was something bothering him, but he was having trouble putting his finger on it. "What did the locals have to say, Andrea?" he asked softly.

"Pretty much what they reported to the feds," she replied. "There was a bright light in the sky that crashed out here. They came out to take a look and found the crater empty. It was reported as a UFO and the report eventually came to us."

"What about noise?" Ryan asked. "Did anyone hear anything before the crash?"

"Not that they're telling us."

"Something like this, people were bound the have their phones out taking pictures and video," Ryan said. "Get on the computer and search the usual social network sites. Hell, see if the news groups have picked up the story. There's something not right here, but I can't figure out exactly what it is."

She nodded. "All right, I'll see what I can find. I'm glad you're here, Ryan," Andrea said. "It's one thing to be named team leader back in the labs when we're working cases on paper. I don't know that I'd know what all to do with this."

"That's what I'm here for," Ryan said. "Let me know what you find, okay?"

"Will do."

Ryan headed back to the point where the tread marks vanished into the trees. He pulled out his flashlight and squatted down to look at the grass just beyond the tree line. "Hey Tim, bring your camera over here," he called. "I need a couple of the filters."

"What'd I miss?" Tim asked.

"Something I think all of us would have missed if Horatio hadn't trained me to be suspicious of everything," Ryan replied. He opened the camera case and pulled out the filter he needed. "Here, squat down next to me and look at the grass there. What does that look like to you?"

"Tire tracks."

"Yeah, so what if something was dropped out of an airplane and landed here," Ryan said, snapping a few pictures. "Whoever it was for was waiting for it, had a heavy lifter that pulled it out of the hole and over to a car or truck waiting here just inside the tree line. They would have been able to carry it out of here without anyone seeing them because the approach is the way we came in."

Tim nodded. "It would also explain a lack of radiation around the site," he said.

"Oh for." Ryan hit his forehead a few times. "That's what's missing. Anything in space has radiation and the site would have had residual traces of it. Good work there, Tim. I think that we all need to review space and little tricks we can use to tell if anything extraterrestrial came through or not."

"So now we have to search back into the tree line to see if there's another road or if we can pick up tracks back in there," Tim said.

"Exactly," Ryan said. "Grab one of the guards and go see what you can find. You might need to use different angles and don't go to far back in without letting me know. You always want to make sure your team knows where you are."

Jake came up behind them. "Ryan, I think you'll find this interesting," he said, holding out a glass jar.

"Crystal meth," Ryan said grimly. "I've seen enough of that to know we need to test that carefully to be sure of what we're looking at. You guys haven't had that training yet, so let me do it. Where did you find it?"

"Down in the crater."

"Guys, we need more back-up than we have," Ryan said, reaching for his phone. "We've stumbled onto a drug drop."


	9. Chapter 9

"So we need to head up to New York and the SHIELD base there," Tony said later that night. "He'll deny it until his last breath, but Fury has a stock pile of alien artifacts in a secure building there and we can use them to fine tune the new programming for the dwarves. Horatio, do you have a jet we can take?"

"I'm sure that Grant will get one set up for us," Horatio said. "Do we want to go tonight or wait until early in the morning?"

"Tonight," Tony said. "Early morning is a dirty word and should never be encountered if at all possible. Seriously, it's just really late night if you approach it the right way."

Horatio shook his head with a fond smile. "All right, you three pack up what you need and I'll go talk with Grant," he said. "I'll have to make arrangements for the teams to go work with Calleigh for the next few days. We never really planned for both me and Ryan to be out of town at the same time, and we probably should have."

"I'm sure that Calleigh will be happy to work with them," Tony said.

"I certainly hope so," Horatio said. "Pack up, guys. I'll make the calls and talk with Grant. Meet me out at the air strip." He pulled his phone out of his pocket as he walked and called Calleigh to see if it would be okay to send his remaining people to the crime lab for the next couple of days for more training. She agreed it would be workable if they didn't mind being in a couple of back labs while a case was wrapped up. Horatio told her to do whatever she needed to do and thanked her for the help. "Grant."

"Hey, what's up?" Grant asked. "You look serious."

"Ryan and his team stumbled into the middle of a serious drug ring," Horatio replied. "Fury's sent some people he trusts to help out, but I'm still worried about Ryan and the others. They went in not knowing what they would find and could have been killed. I think we need to work out a slightly new protocol for heading out into the field now."

Grant nodded. "Sounds like it's something you need to work on, but I know you've gone into cases with no clue what you were going to find and ended up shot at because of it," he said. "The mystery is half the puzzle most of the time."

"That's very true," Horatio said. "I know Ryan can take care of himself and a full team. It's just hard on me not to be able to get to him to help."

"It's a new world for us all, isn't it?" Grant asked.

"Yes it is. Speaking of new world, can you call one of the short-range pilots for me? I need to take FitzSimmons up to New York to learn how to scan for alien materials," Horatio said.

"I'm impressed you can say that without smiling," Grant said. "I'm guessing you're going to be a couple of days?"

"Clint had surgery today to help his pelvis and legs. I want to see him while I'm up there if I can," Horatio said.

"Wish I could go with, but one of us should be here just in case," Grant said. He came around the desk and kissed Horatio softly. "What about your teams here?"

"Crime lab with Cal and the others," Horatio said. "I promise I'll stay home for the next few weeks after this."

"It's okay, I understand, and you certainly shouldn't make promises you can't keep," Grant said with a fond smile. "I know how busy we all are trying to get used to our new jobs and this new world we're living in. I'll be curious to see what FitzSimmons learns up in New York. I thought I heard Tony come in."

"You did and he's going back up with us," Horatio said. "He adores Leo and Jemma, and they're both really fond of him too. I might suggest to Nick that he let them all work together for a month or two. It would do wonders for their confidence, and Tony could use the company."

"I think Fury won't agree."

Horatio grinned. "We'll see."


	10. Chapter 10

Ryan finished the last report with a sigh. He was used to forms, but he hadn't had to fill out federal investigation forms in a while and he was a bit rusty. "There you go, Agent Bell, all finished," he said.

"Thanks, Ryan," Bell said. "You guys broke open a pretty large ring for us. These guys aren't going to be seeing anything but bars for a while."

"I have to admit I don't understand what the hell they were thinking trying to make it look like a UFO," Ryan said. "They had to know that was going to catch a lot of attention and bring someone in to investigate."

"There's a lot of strange things around here, they probably thought a UFO wouldn't get a lot of attention," Bell sighed. "My office has been looking for these guys for a while. We have a number of their pushers in custody, but no one knew who the main suppliers were. Thanks to you guys checking over the site like you did, we got them."

Ryan nodded. "I've only just joined SHIELD," he said. "I worked for the Miami-Dade Crime Lab before that."

"With Horatio Caine," Bell said. "No wonder you guys were so thorough out there. Caine has a reputation even with us."

"He doesn't like the feds, but he'll work with them," Ryan said with a grin. "No offense, of course."

"None taken. There's always a few idiots that ruin it for all of us. I'm surprise that Caine didn't come out himself."

"He's working on another project," Ryan said. "I'm not even sure what all it involves, but I'm sure it'll be something awesome when it's finished."

"I'll have to keep my eyes open then," Bell said. "I know that SHIELD doesn't deal with drugs, but if we get something unusual again, can we call you guys?"

"Absolutely. I'm not sure we'll be able to help, but give us a call," Ryan said. 

Bell stood and held out a hand. "Thanks again, Ryan," he said. "You just saved a lot of people and we couldn't have done it without your help."

"It's what I'm here for," Ryan said.  
****

"Case review time," Ryan said when the team was back in the plane heading home to Miami. "Tell me what all you learned in the field."

"Be suspicious of everything," Andrea said.

"Look where you don't expect to find evidence," Tim said. "Photograph everything and use your filters if you even think you see something."

"Sift carefully so you don't miss anything," Jake added.

Ryan looked at all of them. "What's the most important thing?" he asked.

"Be aware of everything," Charlie replied.

"Good. That's the main point," Ryan said. "Never, ever get so focused on what you're doing that you lose track of your team or your surroundings. You never know if someone is going to come back to the scene, or if there's another problem you're not aware of. I've had crime scenes catch fire while I was inside of them. I had a meth lab blow up on me and only just got out in time."

"You and Horatio said it could be dangerous, but I didn't think it would be that dangerous," Andrea said, eyes wide.

"Sorry you joined us?" Ryan asked. "I mean that seriously. You can post to the lab and work there if you're worried about the danger involved."

She shook her head. "No, I guess I just hadn't realized exactly what you two meant," Andrea said. "I want to be out in the field, but I've got a lot to learn."


	11. Chapter 11

Horatio made his way down the hall of the medical building checking each number as he went. When he got to the room Clint was in, he knocked gently on the door before pushing it open. "Phil."

"Horatio, we weren't expecting you," Coulson said with a smile. "Please come in, sit down. Are you on your own?"

"FitzSimmons are working with Tony and Nick to teach the dwarves to scan for various alien materials," Horatio said with a small smile. "How's Clint doing?"

"Clint's awake," he said from the bed. "Hey there, Pop."

"So I hear you're one step closer to walking," Horatio said, moving over next to the bed. "How do you feel?"

Barton shifted a little with a sigh. "I hurt, but it's nothing I haven't dealt with before. I've fractured my pelvis a couple of times and the pain is off the charts," he said. "This is actually lower and without the throbbing that usually comes along with it."

"The doctors went in and put both plates and pins in to stabilize the bone," Coulson said. "When the building came down on top of him like it did, there were so many small fractures that the pelvis itself was compromised. These will let him be able to walk again."

"Yeah, but forget about passing through metal detectors," Barton said with a grin.

"When was the last time you flew commercial?" Coulson asked.

"Good point," Barton said. "So, Pop, what else is going on? Fury told us that the base in Miami is open for business."

"It is. Ryan took a team out in the field for a possible UFO and ended up in the middle of a drug running operation," Horatio said. "Everyone is fine and they're on their way home, but it was scary for a few hours until more officers arrived on-site. Fury brought FitzSimmons and the dwarves to the Helicarrier to scan for anything he didn't like and we found a still with alien components in it."

Coulson nodded. "I heard about that," he said. "The alcohol really glowed?"

"Yes it did," Horatio said. "That's why we're running additional scans. It seems that not everyone on the clean-up crews in New York did what they were supposed to do."

"They're going to regret that," Barton said. "Fury takes a very dim view of people disobeying orders. He shot at me once."

"To be fair to Director Fury, Clint, you were in the vent over his office during a private meeting with the head of the CIA," Coulson said with a sigh. "You weren't even grazed."

"I was also just passing through," Barton said. "I didn't know he was in the middle of a meeting or I wouldn't have gone that way."

"You know you're not supposed to be in those vents anyway," Coulson said. 

"It's a shortcut from the mess to your office," Barton said. "I think I'm being wrongfully accused here. Pop, help me out."

Horatio couldn't help but smile. "I'm afraid I can't, Clint," he said. "You might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but you should listen to orders. You know that."

"Yeah, I know, I know," Barton said. "It's just that Phil was injured and I was trying to get to him as quickly as I could to be sure he was okay. They wouldn't let me go out on that mission with him."

"I know you were the one that went after Michaels," Coulson said.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Phil."

"Yes, you do," Coulson insisted. "Michaels was the sniper on that mission because Clint was on hold for a higher ranked op. Ultimately it was Michaels' fault I was injured. He turned up two days after with a broken arm and black eye, but wouldn't tell anyone who he'd been in a fight with."

"It wasn't me," Barton said. "I was with you the whole time, Phil. Pull the feeds if you don't believe me."

Horatio looked over. "I can think of one other person that protective of you both," he said.

"Natasha."

"She would be scary enough for Michaels to keep his mouth shut," Coulson agreed. "I suppose if it was her, Michaels got off easy."

Barton started sputtering, but broke off with a moan. Coulson was next to him immediately. "More pain killers for you, Clint," he said. "You know what medical said."

"Yeah, yeah, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."


	12. Chapter 12

"Wolfe!"

Ryan turned around. "Hey there, Delko, do you know where my teams are hiding?" he asked. "I've got some new training for them at the base and Grant said they're there."

"Down in the garage. It was the only area we had free because of a case," Eric replied. "What's it like working for the feds?"

"SHIELD really isn't a federal organization," Ryan said, starting towards the garage. "I'm not sure where the charter comes from, but they're not just our government. I can't tell you much more than that, it's classified, but it's interesting. You wouldn't believe some of the information I've been reading."

"Let me guess, classified."

"Yeah. I'd tell you if I could," Ryan said. He pushed the door to the garage open and headed inside. "Hey gang, how's it going?"

Larry looked over from the car they were studying. "I think we've got the hang of this, but there's one part of the car we're not sure how to check," he said. "The vent system."

"Eric, you're better with cars than I am, you want to handle this part?" Ryan asked with a grin.

"Sure." Eric pulled on a pair of gloves and picked up some filters along with a couple of containers. "There's no way to really get into the vent system without really pulling the car apart, so what we've found is that if you take these filters and secure them over the vents in the car with these containers, then open the garage door and turn the car on, things will blow out of the vent and you can test them then."

"What if nothing comes out?" Amy asked, pushing her glasses back into place with a knuckle. "Is there another way to get in there?"

"You can swab down from here," Ryan replied, pointing to the vent covers inside the car. "Alternately, you can enter the system from under the hood, but it takes two investigators to do it."

"So many little things that you don't even think of when you heard about investigating crimes," Larry said with a small sigh. "Is it possible to learn everything, Ryan?"

"Only if you're Horatio Caine," Ryan said with a smile. "As we get a little more settled, each of you will start specializing a little more. Once you're in your field, you'll be able to learn as much as you possibly can, and Horatio and I are always available to be used as a reference book or check on what you're doing. Let's clean up in here, guys, and head back to base. We've got to go over some more paperwork procedures."

Frank sighed. "Why does no one warn about the paperwork?" he asked.

"You should know the government runs on paperwork rather than fuel," Ryan joked. "My team had a bit of a snaffu in the field and it showed that we need to review a couple of scene procedures and one more type of paperwork. I was able to do it this time around, but you guys all need to know how to do it. Come on, clean up."

Eric looked over at Ryan. "What'd you run into on your last case?" he asked softly.

"Meth ring," Ryan sighed. "Feds got involved and I had to do their forms in addition to my own. It was a mess, but we were able to get everyone out without shots fired. I count that as a win."

"Was Horatio with you?"

"No, he's on another case," Ryan said. "You're not still stuck on that, are you, Eric?"

"I don't know what to think, man," Eric said with a small sigh. "He lied to me for how many years and then didn't listen to me when I needed to talk to him about something important."

Ryan looked over with a glare. "He didn't lie to you, Eric. He kept his private life to himself, which everyone is allowed to do," he said. "He's given you more chances to talk with him than anyone else would, and the only thing you do whenever you see him is yell at him for living his life. Tell me how that's fair to him."

"You haven't been around for every talk, Wolfe."

"No, but I've heard about them from people that were," Ryan said. "Horatio's under enough stress right now as it is and he doesn't need you causing more. What is it you told me all those years ago, Eric? Oh yeah, grow up."


	13. Chapter 13

Horatio paused just outside the lab where Tony was working with FitzSimmons to watch how the group interacted. He was fond of Tony, something he didn't find surprising. The man was starting to come out of his shell more, the protective cover he'd worn for so many years, and showing the people close to him that he cared deeply for them all. FitzSimmons obviously adored him, and Horatio stood by the idea that it would be good for them to work with Stark, maybe all of the Avengers, for a couple of months once they were a little more secure in the world.

"I keep waiting for something to blow up," Fury commented, joining Horatio outside the large window. "I'll be honest, I've never seen Stark this dedicated to teaching before. Makes me want to reassess a few things."

"He's good for them, Nick," Horatio said softly. "They all speak the same language, and that's something I don't think Fitz or Simmons has had much in their lives."

"I overheard some of what they're working with," Fury said. "From the sound of things, when these upgrades are done, there's not a type of material that will be able to hide from the dwarves. It sounds like there's a lot of field testing to be done, but the end result will be worth it."

"Yes it will," Horatio said. "You understand more science than you let on, don't you, Nick?"

Fury grinned. "I try to keep up with everything, Horatio," he said. "It isn't easy, but it does mean I know where to look when I have a problem that needs solving. You and your teams are going to be a big help with that."

"I hope we can live up to your expectation, Nick," Horatio said. "I was just going in to join them? Did you need me for something?"

"Nah, medical told me you'd been in to visit Barton and I was wondering if you saw anything Phil and the doctors are missing."

"Just my son dedicated to recovering," Horatio said. "Clint's a very strong young man, and very determined not to let anything keep him down. He has a very long road to walk, but he'll make it to the end, Nick. He'll be back in the field before anyone knows it."

"Good, that's what I'm hoping for," Fury said. "I don't know if it matters to you or not, but I've got a few reports from the facility I sent Hill and her helper to."

"As long as they're secure, Nick, that's all I care about. I'm sorry that Maria Hill lost someone special to her, but trying to kill an innocent man in revenge, that's not something I'll ever be able to forgive," Horatio said softly. "Had you not done something, I would have."

Fury bit back a laugh. "They warned me about you, Horatio, and I see they were right," he said. "I like it. Go see to your children in there and I'll check in when you're ready to start scanning the bases."

"See you then," Horatio said. He slipped into the lab. "How's it going?"

"Horatio, you wouldn't believe the things that Tony's been able to come up with," Simmons said with a large grin. "It's amazing."

"I'm glad to hear it," Horatio said. "Tony, I wanted to ask you roughly how much it would cost to make simpler dwarves to be made available for crime labs around the world. Leo and Jemma have a very good idea here and, while our seven will always be the most special, I think the tech could help change the course of crime scene investigation."

"We patent it to these two with Fury's permission and Stark Industries will take over manufacture," Tony said. He sat down on the stool and carefully picked up Happy. "This is all okay with you two? These guys are your babies and I know how special they are to you."

"Horatio's talked to us about it," Simmons said.

"Yeah, it is." Fitz added at the same time.

"We want to be able to help others be safe," Simmons continued. "If our dwarves can do that, then how can we not let them be manufactured for crime labs and maybe even fire departments around the world? Horatio's right that they're useful. Training would be a bit of an issue, but we can work that out when we're getting closer to selling them."

Tony nodded. "I'll talk to Nick about patents and rights and all that crap," he said. "You guys have the blue prints and spec sheets for them?"

"Down in Miami," Fitz said.

"When we get to that point, I'll need those," Tony said. "I think we've done all we can for today. Who wants supper? I'm hungry, food is on me."

"Why don't we get something that Clint is able to eat and let Leo and Jemma visit him for a bit?" Horatio asked with a small smile.

"Can we?"

"That'd be awesome."

"Okay, dinner with Agent and Birdy," Tony said with a grin. "I'll call my driver and get him to pick up some stuff. He knows where to deliver it."


	14. Chapter 14

Ryan tapped on Grant's door and leaned into the office. "Hey, you have a minute?" he asked.

"Of course, come on in," Grant replied. "What's going on, Ryan?"

"It's Delko," Ryan admitted. "I got into it with him at the lab today because he's still moping and upset about everything with Horatio and I just don't know what else to do but avoid the lab, but that won't work because we're doing training there. Any suggestions?"

"Well, if you were two of my men, I'd have you both locked in a room with a neutral third party," Grant said with a small smile, "but I don't think that'll work this time around, especially as it's Horatio he's upset with and not you. I think my best advice to you right now is to be professional with him, don't bring up any topic outside of work and ignore him if he does. I'll mention something to Horatio if he calls down tonight, but I think you need to just leave it to us, Ryan."

"Yeah, that's what I figured, but I wanted to see if there was anything else I could do," Ryan said. "Horatio's done everything he can to talk with Eric, and Eric's blind to that. I don't know how much longer this can last."

Grant nodded with a small sigh. "I know what you mean, Ryan," he said. "Eric aside, how did your teams do at the lab? Horatio was worried about the short notice hurting their training."

"They did good. We managed to clear a couple of points up on investigating a vehicle and Cal told me they also got some time with DNA before a case broke," Ryan said. "I'm going to start them on other things tomorrow, including how to fill out federal paperwork."

"It's always the paperwork, isn't it?" Grant asked.

"It's going to be the death of someone some day," Ryan replied with a grin. "I know it'll have to fall on them to kill them, but it's still going to do it."

"Hopefully it won't become a case for your guys to investigate," Grant said. "I'll talk to Horatio for you tonight, Ryan. You can talk with him some more when he's home."

"All right, thanks, Grant, I appreciate it."  
****

Horatio didn't call until after Grant was already in bed reading. "Hey."

"How's New York?"

"Busy," Horatio replied. "Clint is doing very well and the doctors have hope that he'll be able to start walking with help in a couple of weeks. Tony's been a huge help and we're going to start our scans tomorrow."

"Sounds like a productive trip," Grant said with a smile. "Ryan and his team are home, Horatio, safe and sound. He said there was a lot of paperwork and is planning to teach everyone how to fill out different forms depending on which federal department they're working with."

"That's a good idea," Horatio said. "What else is going on?"

"That obvious, huh?"

"Only to someone that knows you really well," Horatio said. 

"Ryan said that he and Eric had an argument about how Eric's seeing you right now," Grant said. "I don't have all the details and you'll probably want to talk with Ryan when you're home again, but it sounds like Eric still hasn't come around, and is making it hard for Ryan to be at the crime lab right now."

Horatio sighed. "I wish I had an easy answer for this, but I don't," he said. "I'll talk with them both when I'm home again. I don't know what else I can do, to be honest."

"I know you'll make it work. Ryan was upset enough that he came over to see me at the base," Grant said. "I gave him some suggestions if he ends up back at the crime lab before you're home again."

"Thank you. There's so much happening that I never anticipated," Horatio said. "I wouldn't change any of it, Grant, but I might change how I handled a few things."

"You're doing fine, Horatio," Grant said. "I miss you and can't wait until you're home, and I think Ryan feels the same."

"It'll be a couple of days. We've got four bases to scan, counting New York and the Helicarrier," Horatio said. "Nick's mad enough to shut everything down, with the people in the buildings, for us to do these scans. Turns out he really doesn't like it when people do stupid things."

Grant started laughing. "Neither do you, so you two must be on the same page."

"That we are," Horatio said. "That we are."


	15. Chapter 15

"Okay, so I think we're ready," Tony said, looking around. "We've got the dwarves ready to deploy and I brought some of my own toys to act as a double check. You ready for this, Fury?"

"Start them up," Fury said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Horatio bit back a smile and moved to stand behind FitzSimmons. "Take your time, guys," he said. "Let's be sure there's nothing here that can hurt anyone, okay?"

"Okay."

"Sure."

"Start them up," Horatio said softly. He loved to watch the dwarves fly, and thought that was part of the reason he wanted to have them available to crime labs around the country. They were small enough to get into places investigators weren't able to and would be able to find evidence that was missed. He knew there would be problems convincing the court to accept evidence collected by robots, but if they were able to undergo enough peer reviews, then they could start the process.

In the background, Tony was talking to Fury. "Nick, what's SHIELDs rule about patents and inventions?" he asked.

"It depends," Fury replied, "on any number of factors including what it is that's been invented and what they want to patent it for."

"The dwarves," Tony said.

"Horatio mentioned this to me," Fury said. "Those are FitzSimmons project, their idea, and I wouldn't ever take that away from them. They've been working on them for years and only just finished them about a year ago. I'm behind getting something similar out, but didn't want to push."

"Okay, awesome, then I'll file the patent on their behalf and start up manufacturing," Tony said. "Oops, guys, I've got something here that shouldn't be there. Where are the dwarves?"

"A floor below you," Fitz said. "What are you seeing, Tony?"

"Something alien is the best I can do," Tony said. "You guys finish up on your floor and then come on up here. I'll stop my scans until you're with me."

Fury leaned over and looked at the screen. "That looks like a weapon," he said. "Someone had better not have kept one of those energy laser stick things from the battle."

"Energy laser stick things, Fury, really?" Tony asked with a grin. "That's what you call them? Please tell me that didn't go in the report."

"They're in the reports as energy weapons of unknown origin," Coulson said, appearing behind the group. "Horatio, I know you're in the middle of something here, but Clint's asking for you."

"Will you stay wit FitzSimmons for me, please?" Horatio asked.

"Of course," Coulson said. "Thank you, Horatio."

Horatio nodded and headed down the hall towards the elevator and medical. He wasn't sure what his son needed, but family took top spot to everything, even work. The halls were empty, everyone in their quarters while the scans were going on, so Horatio made good time getting to the room Barton was in. "Hey there."

"Hey, Pop," Barton said. "Sorry to pull you away from your tests, but I need a favor I can't ask Phil for."

"Anything, Clint, you know that," Horatio said. "What can I do for you?"

"I want to enroll in a class online," Barton said, "but they aren't letting me near a computer until my stitches come out. Would you be able to go online and get me a place in the class? I wrote everything down."

"Of course I can, Clint, but why can't you ask Phil about this?" Horatio asked.

Barton sighed. "He wants me focused on my recovery," he said. "I think he still feels guilty about his role in my getting hurt, even if he was under the influence of some really powerful drugs, and he's just focused on getting me back to normal. I know I'll get there, but it's going to be more than a year, a lot of it spent lying in one bed or another. I have to have something to do, and I'm caught up on my paperwork for SHIELD."

"Want me to talk to him?"

"I don't know if it would help, but you can if you want," Barton said. "Thanks, Pop. I didn't know who else to ask, and JARVIS is banned from SHIELD on principle. Fury really doesn't like him."

"I'll take care of this as soon as I get back to my tablet," Horatio said. "I'm there watching more than anything else. Clint, I know you'll recover, just be sure that you're not pushing yourself too hard because you think that's what Phil wants. You know your body better than anyone. Do what it tells you."

"I know, Pop," Barton said with a grin. "Just like when I was a kid."

"Just like then," Horatio said. "I'll have a talk with Phil, Clint. We'll get this worked out."


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys.  
> Surprise. *grins* I forgot to mention yesterday that my days off have changed so my updates this week and next week will be Sun-Thurs. Then I'm heading off on holiday and won't have computer access, so from roughly Nov 18 - Dec 4, there will be no story updates. Should make my detractors happy anyway. I'm going to London for the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Celebration. I promise I'll write while I'm away, as best I can, and have some updates when I'm home again.
> 
> As always, thank you all for being amazing readers. You make writing these stories a joy. :)

Horatio grabbed his tablet first thing when he was back with the group and went to the site Barton had written out for him. It was a good school and the program would suit his son well, so he went ahead and entered all the basic information and requested an enrollment package to be sent to the Tower. "Phil, could I have a word, please?" he asked softly.

"Sure. What's going on, Horatio?" Coulson asked in reply.

"It's Clint," Horatio replied. "He wants to take some classes online while he's confined to bed rest and is worried that you won't let him do it."

"What?"

"Phil, how much are you pushing him to recover?"

Coulson sputtered for a moment and then sighed. "I didn't think I was pushing him that hard, but it looks like I was wrong," he said. "I just am having some trouble coming to terms with the fact that I was used to hurt him so badly."

"Have you talked with him about it?"

"I've tried, but he listens and then tells me that it's not my fault," Coulson said. "I know he believes that, but, even under the influence of those drugs, it was still me that took him out into the field on unsanctioned missions that ended with him in medical."

Horatio sighed too. "Phil, you were not yourself when you took him out into the field," he said. "Do you think you should talk with one of the doctors here about the lingering guilt you're feeling about the events that led up to Clint being hurt?"

"I don't know," Coulson admitted. "I've spoken with them in the past, but it's never really helped anything. Is this what Clint wanted to talk with you about?"

"He's worried about you, Phil."

"I don't know what else I can do," Coulson said. 

"Go to psych," Fury said from behind them. "You are not to blame for what happened to your lover, Coulson. That's all on Hill and her helper in the labs. Barton wants to do some schooling, that's fine with me. We'll pick up the dime as long as it's something he can use in the field at a later time. He needs you there to recover, Phil, and that's not going to happen if you can't look at him without guilt."

"Yes, Sir," Coulson said.

"Go now, Coulson," Fury said. "They're expecting you. Then get back to medical. You know better than anyone how bad Barton is at staying still."

"The enrollment information is going to the Tower," Horatio said. "Phil, give me a call if you need to talk. You're family and that's what I'm here for."

"Thanks, Horatio," Coulson said.

Fury shook his head. "Two good men that are both idiots," he said fondly. "There are many days I'm amazed they're still together, Horatio."

"I know what you mean, Nick," Horatio said with a small smile. "What have the scans been finding while I was gone?"

"Few things here and there that shouldn't be here or there and I'm going to be confiscating them and sending the idiots that brought them into my building back to class on why you do not bring alien artifacts or materials into any SHIELD building unless they are under heavy quarantine and all the paperwork is filled out."

"Sounds like an interesting class, Nick, I'll have to look into that one," Horatio said.


	17. Chapter 17

Eric was working on a pair of picture frames trying to lift prints off them when he realized there was someone behind him. He glanced back and did a double-take when he found a stranger there. "Can I help you?" he asked. "How did you get in here, anyway?"

"Same way you did," the man replied. "I'm here to talk to you about a problem you have with one of my people and how it's impacting the training of the teams I need to be able to send out to investigate whatever I need them to."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about."

"So you're not nursing a broken heart and a bruised ego because Horatio Caine has a partner and told you no?"

"What the hell? How do you know about that?" Eric asked.

The man smiled, a look that resembled a shark far too much. "I know everything," he said. "It's my job. I don't give a damn what you feel in your personal time, but when you walk in that door, you're supposed to be a professional, and that means putting everything to the side and forgetting about it until you walk back out at the end of your shift. I want to know why you haven't been able to do that."

"It's none of your business," Eric said, turning back to the frames. "Now if you don't mind, I'm busy."

"No, I don't mind. Not at all. You can be as busy as you like, but I'm still going to talk to you. So you're feeling a little broken up by the fact that a friend of yours was keeping secrets from you," the man said. "Where is it written that anyone has to tell you every single detail of their personal lives? Where is it written that a man can't have a few secrets even from those he considers his family when the secret is not just his to share?"

"He lied to me," Eric exclaimed.

"How did he lie to you? Did Horatio ever look you right in the eye and lie to you about anything in his personal life?" the man asked. "Did he ever say anything to you about Grant or Clint that is not true? No, he didn't. Horatio didn't tell you a god damn thing about either of them because they were both in highly dangerous jobs where any connection to Horatio could place them in danger, or he could have been placed in danger is anyone knew he was associated with them. How is that a lie?"

"He told me I'm not his type," Eric said. "He never told me he had a partner or that he'd been in a steady relationship for over thirty years."

"Are you his type?"

"What?"

"It's a simple enough question. Are you Horatio Caine's type?" the man asked.

"Apparently not," Eric snapped.

The man grinned again. "I've had people killed for talking to me in that tone," he said. "You have spirit. I like that. I need you to get over your sulk at finding out you're not the center of Horatio's life and start acting like the professional everyone tells me you are."

"What are you even doing here? This isn't your business," Eric said.

"You made it my business when you refused to listen to anyone else," the man said. It shouldn't have been possible to glare with one eye, but he managed it really well. "How many people have talked to you about this? How many people have you ignored because they weren't saying what you wanted to hear? That isn't a criminal investigator. That's a five-year-old hiding in the corner sulking because his favorite toy was taken away from him."

"I'm not sulking."

"You could have fooled me."

"Who the hell are you, anyway?" Eric demanded.

"Does that really matter?"

"You're talking about me growing up, it's common courtesy to introduce yourself when you start a conversation."

Horatio appeared in the doorway behind the mystery man. "Nick, you didn't have to do this," he said softly. "I was going to talk with Eric before we headed out to Atlanta."

"I thought I'd see if I could knock some sense into his thick skull even though my best people couldn't. Seems to me this is a lost cause, Horatio. What did the scans show?"

"Four pieces. We have them quarantined," Horatio said. "Tracking down every person that responded to New York is going to be tricky, Nick. I think we need to work out a new way to do this."

"You're smart, Horatio. Work with the others to figure it out. I'm going back to New York. I have paperwork to do. Let me know the end results of your scans." He turned and looked at Eric. "You need to grow up and see that others are being hurt because of your actions. Next time, you won't like it when you find me behind you."

Eric waited until the mystery man was gone. "Horatio, what the hell?"

"Think about what he said, Eric," Horatio said. "Nick comes across strong, but he had some good points. Right now, I can't send my people here because none of them want to work with you anymore. They overheard your fight with Ryan and that's made them uncomfortable, so I've lost my training resource. I'm very disappointed in you both. I trained both you and Ryan to act better than this in the lab, Eric." He sighed. "Good-bye, Eric."


	18. Chapter 18

Horatio looked around at his team. "We need to figure out a better way to track down potential alien trophies from the aftermath of the Battle of New York than hopping from base to base," he said. "Director Fury and I are both concerned there may be other problems associated with those artifacts and we need to get them contained quickly."

"It's not unlike the attacks on 9/11," Fitz said. "There were responders from around the country flying in to help clean up. There's no database of everyone that was there."

"Could we make one?" Ryan asked. "I mean, local departments had to keep track of who they sent in to help and where outside help was coming from, if only to work out pay. It'd take some work on the computers, but it should be able to be done."

"Doing research like that, compiling data, it could take us up to a week to do it," Simmons said. "That's with everyone helping."

"Then we need to get started, don't we?" Horatio asked. "I'll get in touch with Director Fury and see if he can have someone release the military and federal agency records to us. You guys get going on state, county and city responders. Keep in mind that you're going to see people across the board, but the most likely are the fire fighters and police officers that want to be able to help their brothers."

Ryan nodded. "We have the list of SHIELD agents that helped out, right?"

"We do, and we've already searched their facilities," Horatio said. "Director Fury isn't happy about some of the things we've found and he wants to make sure that there aren't any in civilian hands if we can avoid it. The scientists on the Helicarrier are checking to be sure we're going going to have some sort of pandemic on our hands."

Simmons looked up. "That's possible if the aliens in question were carrying a disease," she said. "Horatio, I'm not going to be much help here. Is it okay if I link up with the science team on the Helicarrier and help them? That's my field."

"All right, go ahead," Horatio said. "The rest of you, hit the records. Let's see what all we can find."  
****

"Ryan?"

"Hey, so I heard that Director Fury talked with Eric too," Ryan said. 

Horatio couldn't help the smile. "Is your skin still burning a little from the scolding you got?" he asked.

"Yeah. I knew that he was upset, but I didn't realize the depth of that," Ryan replied. "Any chance Eric listened to what was said? I really wanted to be able to use the crime lab's garage next week to finish up vehicle searches."

"I don't know, Ryan," Horatio admitted. "I realize that Eric was hurt deeply, but now it seems more like he's doing this out of spite, trying to make me hurt as badly as he was, and not realizing that he's hurting others in the process. Nick was blunt and certainly didn't pull any punches when he talked with Eric, but I don't know if any of it stuck. I know the crime lab garage is set up better than ours is at the moment, but you can do your class here. It just won't be quite as sterile, but I'm working on that."

"Do what we have to, huh?" Ryan asked.

"Just like always, Ryan," Horatio said. "In the future, Ryan, let's keep fights away from the ears of the new team. I know you and Eric and that fighting is second nature to you both, but they don't and their performance could suffer for it."

"I know, H, and I'm sorry. Eric just said the wrong thing when I was already stressed. That fight was my fault, and I take full responsibility for the fallout."

"I appreciate that, Ryan, but it takes two to fight and from what I heard, Eric said what he did specifically. He was looking for an argument. I think he's still upset that I chose you to come to SHIELD with me instead of him," Horatio said.

Ryan nodded. "Having been through the training and seeing what I have, I totally understand it now, H," he said. "I also wanted to tell you that the team has already made up a list of first responders in New York that were both in the Battle and helped with clean-up afterwards. We're branching out from there, but I think we'll be able to get everyone checked over."

"I just hope we can get this fast enough, Ryan," Horatio said. "An alien disease would be impossible for our medicine to counter."

"Jemma and the team at SHIELD are making progress though," Ryan said. "I peeked in on my way here. They're going to have something ready to go if it comes to that. Director Fury is pushing hard on this, and no one is breaking."

"That's good, Ryan. Let's be sure it stays that way."


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys. My apologies for not updating yesterday. I had to stay up late to do some stuff for my trip and, as I suffer from fibromyalgia, threw myself into a flare bad enough that I was forced to stay home for a day and couldn't focus on anything. I'm doing better and am back to a semi-regular routine, including updates.
> 
> Thanks for your patience. :) My last update before my trip will be Sunday, Nov. 17th.

"Do we actually get a quiet night at home?" Grant asked, locking the door behind them.

"I don't know, but we can try," Horatio replied. "Things have been crazy for the past few months, haven't they?"

"That's probably the understatement of the year," Grant said. "I think there's left-over pasta in the fridge. I haven't had a chance to go shopping for anything."

Horatio sighed. "Why don't we just order a pizza, Grant?" he asked. "I know we're both trying to be healthier in our eating, but even heating something up sounds like too much work for tonight."

"You go change, I'll take care of it," Grant said. He watched Horatio head towards the bedroom and sighed. Things were hitting his partner far harder than either of them had expected them to, and Grant was starting to wonder if maybe he shouldn't try to talk with Eric about a few things. He knew that wasn't the only problem Horatio was facing, but at the same time, losing the crime lab as a training facility hit both Horatio and Ryan hard. 

"I thought about swimming," Horatio commented, coming back into the room in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, "but realized I was too tired. What do you say to curling up on the sofa and watching a movie tonight?"

"Sounds good to me," Grant said. He kissed Horatio softly. "You pick. I'm going to change and I'll get us some soda on my way back in."

"Okay."

The real problem was the bruised ego, Grant knew. Misunderstandings were probably the worst problem to try and overcome because both sides could be very stubborn about it. Horatio had tried to talk with Eric several times about things, but it was almost like Eric developed a filter so he didn't hear what Horatio was really saying. Grant had a feeling that Calleigh had been talking with Eric about the whole mess, but didn't know what would have been said. Having a close friend suddenly become your boss was disorienting at best. Grant knew that Eric and Calleigh dated for a brief time, and hoped that didn't create more problems in the long run. He wasn't sure how long Eric had been lusting over Horatio, but really hoped it hadn't been the reason Eric and Calleigh broke up. Grant liked Calleigh a lot. She was sensible, serious and sweet in equal measures.

"What are we watching?" he asked, settling next to Horatio on the sofa.

"Holy Grail," Horatio replied. "I need something brainless tonight."

"Sounds to me like you need dinner and to go to sleep early," Grant said. "How much sleep were you getting up in New York, Horatio?"

"Not nearly as much as I wanted," Horatio admitted. "The scans took longer than we were expecting them to, and then Clint needed me for a couple of things. I'll be okay, I just need a good night's sleep."

"You never did tell me what class he wants to take."

"History," Horatio said. "World War Two, I think it is, but the class description was general history for that period of time in that part of the world. Fury is going to pay for the class even though it's not really something that can be used on the job. I think he's just trying to keep Clint busy while he's stuck in bed for so long."

Grant nodded with a fond smile. "Clint's never been good at staying still unless he's working," he said. "There's dinner. I'll be right back."  
****

He wasn't surprised when Horatio fell asleep on the sofa after they were done eating, head resting in Grant's lap. Grant kept running his fingers through Horatio's hair while he finished up the movie. "Come on, you," he finally said. "Let's go to bed."

Horatio woke up enough to brush his teeth and change into a pair of sleep pants, but was sound asleep when Grant finally joined him. Grant just smiled fondly and settled in, waiting for Horatio to curl up next to him. There weren't enough nights where they could just enjoy each other's company.


	20. Chapter 20

Horatio was in his office the next morning reviewing the lists his team was putting together for responders to New York when JARVIS broke in. "My apologies, Sir, but Director Fury is on the phone."

"Put him through please, JARVIS," Horatio said. "Nick, what can I do for you?"

"Horatio, I need you and Ryan to go check out a lab over in Europe for me," Fury said. "I know I have you guys there as commanders and not posting to the field, but this is far above anything any of our new agents would be able to handle, and that includes FitzSimmons. You and Ryan are the only two I have with enough experience to do this."

"What's going on?" Horatio asked.

"We're not sure exactly what they're using, but there's a new drug hitting the market that's killing anyone that tries it," Fury said. "They're eyes are solid red and their skin purple by the time they die. Get in there and find out what the hell is going on."

"Who is the support team?"

"I'm sending Captain America and Dr. Banner with you," Fury said. "They'll be at your base in an hour to pick you up. Get over there and find out what's in this drug and get it stopped."

"We'll do our best, Nick," Horatio said. "JARVIS, would you get Ryan and Grant to my office, please?"

"Of course, Sir."

Horatio went to the closet where he'd stored his crime scene kit, not knowing if he would need it again or not, and took it back to the desk to check that he had everything in there. He was adding in special gloves Tony developed protect against alien slimes when Ryan tapped on the door. "Going out in the field, H?"

"We both are," Horatio said. "Fury needs the experience and, from the sounds of things, this is not a case we want the rookies around. Grant."

"Need me to keep an eye on things here?" he asked, shutting the door.

"If you could, please," Horatio replied. "A new drug has come to SHIELD's attention as fatal and causing some of the most unique symptoms prior to death that I've ever encountered. Fury wants to know what they're using and the factory shut down."

"I'll go get my kit," Ryan said. "Meet you at the strip, Horatio."

"Steve and Bruce are coming to pick us up, Ryan. If they're there before I am, let them know I'm on my way, please."

Ryan nodded and left, shutting the door behind him. Horatio looked over at Grant. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Leaving again," Horatio said. "When I agreed to the new job, I thought I'd be able to stay home with you more. I haven't been doing that."

"It's fine, Horatio, I know what working for a federal group is like, remember?" Grant asked with a smile. "I know that you're going to be more in demand until the kids are more comfortable in the field. I never once thought that you'd be home constantly from the beginning."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. You're the best one for this job, so go do it," Grant said. "I'll keep the base running and will drill the kids on fire arms and other things that I know about while you're gone. I can also call Calleigh and see if she could come out here for a lesson if she's not too busy."

"Thank you." Horatio pulled his partner into a tight hug. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Grant. I really don't."

"We're never going to find out, Horatio. Go get the bad guys. Home will be here when you get back."


	21. Chapter 21

"Captain Rogers, Dr. Banner, it's good to see you both again," Horatio said as he entered the plane. "How are things up in New York?"

"Busy," Steve replied with a smile. "We heard that you were just up there helping out with finding alien artifacts left over from the Battle. Did you manage to get things worked out?"

"We did, to a point," Horatio said, strapping himself down. "There are still a lot of people that helped clean up that we can't account for in the records we have. My team will find them, but it'll just take time. What can you tell me about this lab we're going to?"

Bruce handed a tablet over. "Tony hacked into a few systems, did what he does best, and this is what he came up with," he said. "It's an off-shoot of Hydra. We're not sure what they're calling themselves, but just seeing Hydra's name pop up is enough to get SHIELD interested and worried."

"Back in the War, Hydra was trying to take over the world," Steve said. "The procedure I went through, the Super Soldier Serum, one other man had undergone the same treatment and it brought out the darkness in him. Johann Schmidt, also known as the Red Skull, worked for Hitler designing weapons and was going to use the Tesseract, same thing that caused all the problems during the Battle of New York, to take over the world. I stopped him, but Hydra went underground and has only recently started showing up again. I'm not sure what we're going to be facing, but based on previous experience, I'm expecting a lot of insane zealots ready to die for a cause."

"Steve's right, this is going to be dangerous at first," Bruce added in. "Tony's flying over on his own, and Natasha left before we did, going to get us some intel before we land. Fury can't send in a full strike team, not until we get him some evidence that it's needed."

"Is there a group standing by?" Horatio asked. "Ryan and I are both good shots, but neither of us is military and I don't want to be in the middle of something we're not trained for."

"Don't worry about that, we'll take care of the group," Steve said. "Bruce is going to stay back with you because, honestly, when the Hulk gets going, there's not a lot of evidence left."

"We've been studying him, or Tony has been," Bruce said. "The Hulk is sort of like a child. He can follow simple directions, knows friends and enemies, but it's hard to keep him on task once he starts getting destructive. I don't want to risk anything in this lab, and Tony will be a risk enough."

"I'm sure that everything will be fine," Horatio said. "I've read some reports on the Avengers and feel confident that you'll be able to do this without endangering evidence to what is in this new drug."

Steve started laughing. "I believed that once, too, Lieutenant," he said. "Then I took my team into a warehouse full of glass plates and dishes."

Ryan snorted. "How long did it take to clean up the glass?" he asked.

"Way too long, and that's not counting the glass that melted to the walls and floor because of Tony's repulsors," Steve replied. "We'll do our best, Lieutenant Caine, but it's possible you'll be doing a lot of reconstructing from the remains of this lab."

"We can do that, too," Horatio said. "Just be careful that none of you get any of this drug on you. We don't know how it's absorbed into the body and it's possible that just having it on your skin would be enough to hurt you."

"We'll be fine, but thanks for the concern," Steve said. "You have to remember that Tony's the only full human going into this today, and he has the suit. JARVIS won't let anything happen to him. We'll know more when we're on the ground. I hear Clint is taking some classes while he's recovering. How's that going?"

Horatio smiled fondly. "He should just be starting them in the next day or two," he said. "Clint is a serious scholar when he wants to be, he was just never given the chance as a child to prove it. I'm just happy he was able to find something to help keep him busy while he's recovering and in rehab for his injuries. I was worried he would push too far too fast and hurt himself again."

"He's not the best at staying still," Bruce agreed. "I've been talking with his doctors. I'm not really a medical doctor, although I've had some training, and things look good. Clint's going to be back to his pre-injury self in a couple of years as long as he behaves and follows all directions closely. I'm not really sure how he survived that building coming down on him like he did, but I'm glad he did. We wouldn't be the same without him."

"Clint's strong and he has a strong will to survive," Horatio said. "I think that's the reason he's still with us, he's just too stubborn to die."

"Sounds right," Steve said. "He's a good man, great at strategy in the middle of a mess, and I miss having him on the field with us. I'll be good to have him back on active duty again."

"Incoming," the pilot announced.

"Hang on to things," Bruce said as the back flap started to open.

Tony flew into the hold area and landed in front of Steve. "The lab is there and it's active, Cap," he said, taking off his helmet. "Widow is on the ground and finding us a weak spot. Horatio, Ryan, good to see you."

"Likewise," Horatio said. "Tony, any idea what we're dealing with?"

"A plague if it gets our," Tony said. "I got some scans of the chemicals in the building and I don't like what I'm seeing at all. Give me a minute and I'll have them uploaded for you."

"I'll call Fury, get men and containment in motion," Steve said. "Good work, Tony."


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updating today because I have to train a new officer tomorrow. Last update will be Monday. :)

Barton's eyes snapped open when the door to his room in medical opened, even though whoever it was tried to not make a sound. "Phil."

"You are supposed to be sleeping," Coulson pointed out.

"You know I never sleep in medical," Barton said, shifting a little. "When do I get to go home?"

"The doctors think another week, but you'll still be coming back daily for your physical therapy," Coulson said. He put a box down on the table and rolled it into place over the bed. "Tony's working to get something set up at the Tower for you, but for now, we're just going to do it this way. Here, your books and things came for your classes."

Barton grinned. "Awesome," he said. 

"Clint, why didn't you just ask me about this?" Coulson asked, pulling his chair over next to the bed. "You know I would never tell you that you couldn't take classes or help you get into them."

"You've been pushing me so hard on recovery that I didn't think you'd want to let me do anything that took my attention away from that," Barton said. He put the larger book to the side and pulled out the four smaller ones, novels, that would be read for the class. "I'm stuck in bed for at least six months, Phil. It's classes or I'm going to kill someone."

"I'm sorry, Clint. I didn't realize I was hurting you," Coulson said. "Fury's ordered me to see psych to work on a couple of things."

"Like what?" Barton asked, looking over at his lover.

"My guilt for putting you in a situation where you almost died," Coulson said. "I know you face situations like that all the time, but you had no business on that op and it's my fault you were there."

"Phil, we talked about this," Barton said. "You weren't yourself, you were used just like I was when Loki touched me with that damn scepter. The only ones at fault are Hill and her patsy from research."

Coulson looked down at his hands. "I've been trained to resist chemical influences," he said. "I should have realized something was wrong and talked with someone about it before you were hurt so badly. They tried to use me to kill you, Clint, and that's not something I can excuse, even if you can."

"So you're talking with someone?" Barton asked.

"Yeah, but I don't know if it will help or not," Phil replied. "You know I don't like talking with anyone about anything personal."

"Unless it's the person involved," Barton finished. "I have faith in you, Phil. I'm not going anywhere, so don't even try that argument. Have you heard from the team?"

"Not yet. Last report said they were still in transit," Coulson said. "Horatio was reviewing everything he could find on Hydra, according to Steve, and Ryan was talking to Bruce about some different drugs they'd each run into over the years. Steve and Tony will keep Horatio safe, Clint, you know that."

"Yeah, I know, but it's Hydra. They may be jokes in the field, but when it comes to their labs, they always have weird shit wired in," Barton said. "I'm just worried something's going to be missed because I'm not there."

"Natasha's on the ground already, getting them everything they need," Coulson said. "She knows the bases and tricks better than anyone. Nothing is going to happen to them, Clint. I promise."

"I just want to be out with them," Barton sighed. "You know how much I hate being idle."

"Uh huh, which is why I brought you another project to work on," Coulson said. He handed over a tablet. "I know you don't remember a lot about your time with Loki, but we're trying to track down the parts of your strike team that didn't go to the Helicarrier. Do you think you can remember who all you brought in for him?"

Barton shrugged. "I can try," he said. "I think I can remember enough to know who I would have gone looking for based on what Loki was planning. Give me a couple of days and I'll see what I can come up with."

"Thanks, Clint," Coulson said with a smile. "I have to go check in with ops, see where the team is. Promise me you won't terrorize anyone to tears again?"

"I make no promises if they're being stupid," Barton said, turning to the tablet.

Coulson sighed. It was probably the best he was going to get.


	23. Chapter 23

Grant was finishing up a report when there was a knock on his office door and his assistant leaned in. "Sir, there's an Eric Delko here asking for Lieutenant Caine."

"Send him in, Brad," Grant said. He signed the last page and shut the folder just as the door shut behind Eric. "Horatio's not on base, Eric; is there something I can help you with?"

"One of the gangs is acting up and their leader wants to talk to Horatio," Eric said. "I said I'd come out and get him while Calleigh and the others are trying to find another way to end the stand-off at the lab."

"The gang managed to take over the lab?" Grant asked.

"Somehow," Eric replied.

Grant nodded. "JARVIS, what's the status of the crime lab?" he asked.

"Situation normal, Sir," JARVIS replied. "They are currently working a total of ten cases across a spectrum of crimes, but nothing relating to gang activity at this time. Would you like me to call Detective Tripp to confirm?"

"If you wouldn't mind," Grant said. "Have a seat, Eric. You didn't know that JARVIS was watching over everything, did you, son?"

"Don't call me that."

"All right. Eric, back when Horatio and I first met, right when we were both starting on our careers, there was a third man involved in a misunderstanding," he said. "This man, and I won't name him, thought that Horatio was interested in him because Horatio cared enough to help him out with a problem. The man turned into a stalker that wouldn't listen to anyone about anything, no matter who talked with him, friend or legal aid, up until the point that Frank arrested the man for stalking and assault. We don't want you to become that man, so tell me the truth; why can't you let this go?"

"Horatio lied to me," Eric snapped.

"Is not telling you something the same as lying?" Grant asked. "I can tell you that Horatio's type has always been tall and blonde, in case you were curious."

"He never told any of us that he raised a kid or has a partner," Eric said.

Grant nodded. "True, he didn't," he agreed. "I was over in the middle of a war zone where friendly fire was a risk. Clint works for one of the most secret of the government agencies. Horatio didn't want not to tell you, Eric. He never knew if it was safe to tell you, no matter where he was in Miami. There's a difference in those two things. Clint, Horatio and I all have a lot of enemies looking for ways to get revenge. He was keeping everyone safe."

"Horatio's not military, he shouldn't have to keep state secrets."

"He never once doubted you would keep his secret, Eric," Grant said. "He trusts you with his life, or he did until you started acting so unreasonable about everything, and it hurts him badly that he doesn't have you as a friend any longer. Horatio and I both know that you're hurting badly as well, that you feel you've been lied to, cheated and ignored, but you have a chance to talk with him and get this all taken care of, Eric. Right now you're the only one that can do that. Horatio has tried and he's out of options because work is starting in full. Excuse me a minute. Brad, send squads to Texas, Mississippi, and Grand Caymen. Here are their orders. I want them in the air in an hour. Report in as soon as they are on the ground."

"Yes, Sir," Brad said, taking the folders. "Mr. Delko, Sir, can I get you coffee or something to drink?"

"No, thanks," Eric said. "What the hell are you even doing here?"

"I'm afraid that's classified," Grant said with a shrug. "Like I said, Eric, SHIELD is one of the most classified agencies in the government. There's not a lot we can talk about with anyone not rated level six or higher."

"Secrets and lies."

"Probably," Grant agreed easily.

"Do you ever get upset?" Eric asked.

"If Horatio, Clint, or one of my people is threatened," Grant replied. "Trust me when I say that you don't ever want to see me upset, Eric. You don't get where I am by being hot-headed. I need you to go home and think about everything with a fair look at Horatio's side of things. We both understand how hurt you are at what you view as a betrayal. I can promise you that it's not, Eric. Keeping you in the dark about this helped to keep you alive."


	24. Chapter 24

Natasha was waiting at the clearing where the jet landed. She headed on board and sat down next to Bruce. "The layout is about standard for one of their European bases," she said. "Lab is on the basement floor so all the fumes and chemicals can get up into the living areas. There's the courtyard out in front for drilling and any other physical activities they need. No tanks this time, but I did see some pretty heavy guns hanging around."

"Can we handle it on our own or do we need a squad to back us up?" Steve asked.

"There's roughly two hundred soldiers, a hundred lab staff, and the other general mess you get with Hydra," Natasha replied. "We can handle it."

"All right, everyone suit up," Steve said. "Lieutenant Caine, you and Mr. Wolfe stay with the clean-up crew here by the jet. It'll be the safest point for you guys and I'll send word when we're clear to have you come in. There's haz-mat suits waiting for you both so you'll be safe in the remains of the lab. We'll do our best to keep it in tact, but I'm going to let the Hulk come join us."

Horatio smiled. "Do what you have to, Captain," he said. "Ryan and I have worked through bomb sites and found the answers. Let's just get this drug off the market."

"Glad to see we're on the same page," Steve said. "There's Sitwell. He'll take care of you until it's time for you to go to work."

"Be careful," Horatio said.

"We will."

Ryan looked around as he and Horatio exited the jet. "Well, I've always wanted to see Europe," he said. "This just isn't quite what I had in mind."

"I know what you mean," Horatio said. "Agent Sitwell, I'm Lieutenant Caine."

"Nice to meet you, Lieutenant," Sitwell said with a smile. "I've heard about you from both Coulson and Barton. It sounds like you're bringing a new way of looking at things to SHIELD."

"I'm trying my best," Horatio said. "Do you have any more information about this lab I could review? I want to know as much as possible before we go in there."

"You can look at everything we have over here," Sitwell said, indicating the mobile command post just back in the trees. "We've learned to stay out of the open when the Avengers are going up against Hydra. Be ready for explosions, gun fire, shouting, and roaring, among other things."

"Sounds like they enjoy their work," Ryan said.

"Most of that is from Hydra," Sitwell said with a wry grin. "The roaring will be the Hulk, but the rest of the Avengers are pretty quiet when they fight. I just didn't want anything to startle you."

Horatio grinned. "We appreciate it," he said.  
****

Two hours later after a great deal of shooting, shouting, roaring, five explosions and one very large rock landing just shy of the jet's nose, the battle was over and Steve radioed to say that Horatio, Ryan and the clean-up crew could come up to the castle to get to work. Everyone put on their haz-mat suits, made sure the connections and seals were tight, and headed slowly towards the remains of the castle. Horatio was the only one that didn't pause when the Hulk came into view.

"Hello," he said softly, "thanks for your help today. We couldn't have done it without you."

"Birdy's father," the Hulk said.

"That's right, I am," Horatio said. "I know you watch out for him in the field, and I appreciate it. You help to keep him safe."

"He's my friend," the Hulk said.

"And you're his," Horatio said. "Are you going to be watching out for us today, or is Dr. Banner going to be able to come back and help with the analysis of the chemicals here?"

"Little man back soon," the Hulk said.

Horatio nodded. "All right, thank you," he said. "Come on, Ryan, let's get to work. We need to figure out these chemicals and exactly what Hydra thought they were doing making them into a drug."


	25. Chapter 25

"I thought you'd want to see this," Coulson said, handing Barton a tablet. "Horatio's a remarkable man."

Barton watched the video of Horatio interacting with the Hulk in the middle of the battleground and smiled. "Pop's good with everyone," he said. "You saw me after years living with him, Phil. Imagine how hard it was for me to trust him when I first met him, after everything I'd been through."

"I've always wondered how he convinced you to go home with him," Coulson said. "You've told me bits and pieces of your time with him, but never that."

"I was sleeping on the beach and scrounging scraps from the hotel dumpsters," Barton said. "This is back before they had the really enclosed ones so I was getting some really good grub out of there. Enough to keep me alive, anyway. There was a body dump down the beach and I saw the guys that left the girl there, but didn't say anything because I knew I was underage and they'd arrest me if the cops saw me. Somehow though, Pop did. He came over and sat down near where I was hiding and introduced himself."

\---flashback---

Horatio looked around the crime scene and sighed. Body dumps on the beach in the middle of the night were one of the harder crimes to solve because the sand didn't hold shoe impressions well and there were rarely witnesses. "Alexx?"

"Strangled Horatio," Alexx replied. "I think there might be some fibers in the wound, but I'll have to get her back on the table to be sure. Did anyone see anything?"

"No one that's come forward," Horatio said. "Speed's going to check once you get the body moved. I'm going to take a walk. Page me when you're ready for review, okay?"

"I will," Alexx said.

Horatio settled his sunglasses and headed up towards the hotels. Someone up in that area had been watching him, but there wasn't anyone visible from where he'd been standing. He topped the boardwalk and looked around, fingers tapping on his ID badge for a minute. Then he headed towards some bushes and sat down on the bench near them. "You can come out, I'm not going to hurt you," he said softly. "I'm here to find a killer, but if you need help, then I'm happy to help you too."

There was silence for several minutes and then the bushes rustled. "You just want to arrest me."

"Now why would I want to do that?" Horatio asked.

"Because I'm underage and homeless."

"Neither of those is a crime," Horatio said. "It worries me, yes, but there's no reason to arrest you for either of those as long as you haven't broken the law. My name's Horatio. What's yours?"

"Hawkeye."

"Nice to meet you, Hawkeye," Horatio said. "Are you hungry?"

"What?"

"There's a hamburger stand just down the beach a little," Horatio said. "I know it's early for lunch, but I remember being a teenager and always hungry."

"Why would you feed me?"

"Because it's the right thing to do," Horatio said. "I don't know what others have taught you, Hawkeye, but people should help others, not hurt them."

There was silence again. Horatio leaned forward and rested his arms on his legs, watching Speed in the distance. "I don't know what you're hiding from," he said, "other than me and my co-workers, but that's okay. I'd like to help you, but I can't help unless you can trust me, and I know how hard it can be to trust strangers. I know how hard it can be to trust friends and family, too. Especially fathers."

"You don't know anything."

"I know what it's like to come home and find your father still hitting your mother's lifeless body," Horatio said softly. "I know what it's like to kill your own father, Hawkeye."

"You didn't."

"I did."

"But you're a cop."

"I wasn't then," Horatio said. "I was in my last year of school back in New York, trying to escape from my family and came home one afternoon and found my father covered in blood and my mother apparently lifeless at his feet. I grabbed him and pushed him into the living room to get him away from her, and he hit his head on the coffee table. They both died that day. The courts ruled it an accident and nothing was put on my record. I lived my whole life in fear of my father, Hawkeye, and I've turned that fear into a drive to help others."

The bushes rustled and a sandy-blond head popped up. "Why?" the teen asked.

"Because it's the right thing to do," Horatio replied. "Let me buy you lunch?"

"I still don't trust you."

Horatio nodded with a smile. "That's fine, I understand," he said. "You don't even have to come with me if you don't want to. I can leave the food here. I won't tell anyone else about you, but if you need help or a place to stay, I'm going to leave my card on the bench. It's up to you if you take it or not."

\---END---

"You obviously called him," Coulson said.

"It took me a week to figure out that he was telling me the truth," Barton said with a wry grin. "I kept waiting for the cops to come and arrest me, but they never showed up. No one did, no state agents, no child services people, no one. Pop kept his word and I finally called him. I think he knows I slept with the door locked and the window open for the first three months I lived with him, but he never said anything about it. He and Grant taught me how to trust again."

"I'll always be grateful for them taking you in like they did," Coulson said. "If not for them, your story would have been so different, and it might be closer to the rumors about you, Clint."

Barton grinned. "I wouldn't have turned merc," he said. "You know I hate killing, Phil. I do it because I have to, not because I enjoy it. I think I probably would have found my way into the military even without a high school diploma. With my eyes, they might have overlooked it."

"I doubt it," Coulson said. "Fury would have though."

"Well, thanks to Pop, we never have to find out," Barton said. "I'm glad he's making friends with the Hulk. Big guy needs all the friends he can get."


	26. Chapter 26

"I've never seen some of these things outside of a textbook," Ryan said, handing Horatio a tablet. "Why would they be mixing the noble gasses into a drug, Horatio?"

"I suppose it's possible they weren't looking for a drug and were selling their waste compounds to fund their experiments here," Horatio said. "This combination here would account for the unusual physical symptoms reported."

Ryan looked around the remains of the lab. "So if that's the case, what were they looking for?"

"That, Mr. Wolfe, is the question we need to answer," Horatio said. "We need to analyze the residue in the pipes from their fume hoods and see what we can find there. Then let's work on the remains of the experiments they were running when the Avengers arrived and stopped them."

"Easier said than done on that one," Ryan sighed. "I think I see what Captain Rogers meant about that glass warehouse."

"We did our best," Tony said, coming up next to them. "Did I hear you say you don't think the drugs were the primary purpose of this lab?"

"They would be losing money on manufacture if the drugs were their primary purpose," Horatio said. "Unless there's something very obvious I'm missing here. How much of the drugs have you been able to round up from the surrounding area?"

"Ten samples," Tony said. "There's still a team working on it, but you know how hard it can be to find drugs when people are really determined to hide them and we don't want to risk dogs on this one."

Horatio nodded. "Let me take a look at those ten samples then," he said. "If my theory that they're selling waste compounds is true, then several of those samples should have different base structures. Ryan, you go ahead and start with the pipes, okay?"

"Yeah, you got it, H."

"There's a small chemistry lab set up outside for you, Horatio," Tony said. "You know that JARVIS could break these down for you in a couple of seconds, right?"

"I do, Tony, but with the noble gasses in the mix, I don't want to risk any scan from JARVIS triggering an explosion," Horatio said. "I'll be able to run the tests fairly quickly with the equipment you have set up and then we'll see what we have."  
****

Bruce was waiting out in the courtyard area near the chemistry table. "Hey, so I wanted to say thank you," he said when he saw Horatio.

"For what?"

"Being nice to the Hulk," Bruce said. "Most people freak out when they see him for the first time and it really hurts his feelings."

"He's a person too," Horatio said. "He's helped Clint in the past and that makes him a friend. Anyone that can't see the lingering humanity in his eyes isn't looking hard enough, Dr. Banner."

"Thanks," Bruce said. "From both of us. What can I do to help?"

Horatio outlined his theory about the drugs and handed over half the samples. With the two of them working it wouldn't take long at all to prove or disprove the theory. "I know that color isn't a true indication, but I'm seeing at least six different colors here. You know Hydra more than I do, Dr. Banner. What could they have been attempting to make here that this would be a by-product?"

"Hydra likes weapons and world domination," Bruce replied. "In about that order, too, honestly. Steve knows more about them than I do, but with this being a branch and not the main group, it's possible they're working on something that will tie in with another group's work, a group we just haven't run into yet."

"If this is an off-shoot, I don't know that I want to meet the main group," Horatio said.

"They're all about the same at the base," Bruce said. "Insane zelots that it's way too easy to defeat these days. Steve barely had trouble with them back during the War, unless the Red Skull was at the base, but he was smarter than the people he surrounded himself with."

"Most insane rulers are," Horatio said. He looked at the computer. "I'm seeing a wide range of elements and compounds here, and most of them are different than what your first test is showing. I think, Dr. Banner, that we're looking at the wrong thing. There's a bigger problem here, one that they managed to hide before we found it, or we're not looking at things the right way."

There was a burbling noise behind them. Bruce sighed. "They made another slime monster," he said. "Get back to the safe zone, Horatio. This is going to get messy."


	27. Chapter 27

"You know, somehow I thought they were joking about the slime monster," Ryan said as another large blob of purple slime fell over the wall of the castle. "How does something like that even move around? It can't have a bone structure."

"I don't know that logic dictates with slime monsters," Horatio replied. "I think I'm just glad that I'm not the one fighting it."

Sitwell looked up from the report he was working on. "The Hulk likes them," he said. "They're like a toy to him. The slime monster is probably already dead, he's just pulling it apart, but since we don't know if the slime is corrosive or not, it's safer to stay back here for a while."

"How is this even possible?" Ryan asked with a sigh.

"It's a larger world, Ryan," Horatio replied with a smile. He pulled out his phone. "Horatio."

"Hey, it's me," Grant said. "I've got a site down in Grand Cayman that needs to be looked at. Which team do you want sent down?"

"What's going on?" Horatio asked.

"Some very large frogs," Grant replied. 

"I'll see your frogs and raise you a slime monster," Horatio said. "Send Andrea's team down, Grant. They're the ones with the only field experience at this point in time. Ryan and I should be home in another day or two and we can hop down if they need help."

"Sounds good," Grant said. "You also need to know that Eric showed up on base and tried to convince me to tell him where you are by saying a local gang had taken over the lab and was demanding to talk with you."

Horatio sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed. "I don't even want to know," he said. "I hadn't thought finding out the truth about you and Clint would cause such a shift in behavior, Grant. I'm sorry, he shouldn't have done that. I'll talk to him when I'm home again."

"Which might be what he wants," Grant pointed out. "Yeah, Andrea's team," he said to someone off the phone. "Sorry, Brad just came in. I think that it might be time to disengage and let him think for a while, Horatio. Remember what happened last time. I don't want you to have another broken arm."

"You have a point," Horatio agreed. "Let me see what the status of our garage set-up is at the base and then I'll make the call. What else happened?"

"I talked with him for a bit. I told him your type, which he hadn't heard before," Grant said. "I don't know if hearing he didn't even come close to matching it helped or not, but at least he knows you weren't lying to him about that part. I don't know if Eric listened to what I had to say to him or not, but I tried. I did find out he really hates being called son."

"Something you picked up from me," Horatio said. "Ryan, how many pieces of slime does that make now?"

"Six," Ryan said. "I think Sitwell is right about what's going on in there."

"Someone is going to have to clean all this up," Horatio pointed out. "Grant, I'm about to be allowed back into my crime scene. I'll call from the hotel tonight."

"All right, be careful out there. Love you."

"Love you, too," Horatio said.

"Frogs?" Ryan asked as Horatio was tucking his phone away.

Horatio shrugged. "Grant said very large frogs and wanted to know which team to send in. It sounds like an interesting case."

"Guess we'll get to hear about it when we're home again," Ryan said, as another ball of slime appeared. "Seven."

"Captain Rogers reports that the slime is corrosive and says that they're going to move everything back to one of the local labs," Sitwell reported. "If you two would come with me, I'll take you to the facility where you can start working again."

"Do you ever get used to it?" Ryan asked.

Sitwell smiled. "When you've seen one slime monster you've really seen them all," he said. "This way, gentlemen."


	28. Chapter 28

Fury found Coulson walking slowly with Barton along the hall in medical. "The Hulk just finished dismembering yet another Hydra slime monster," he said.

"What color?" Barton asked, leaning against the wall.

"I don't know that the color matters, Clint," Coulson replied. "Is everyone all right, Sir?"

"The color totally matters because the Hulk and I were trying to get a complete rainbow of slime monsters," Barton said. "We're missing red, purple and yellow."

"Do I want to know why you're attempting to collect a rainbow of slime?" Fury asked. He hated to be drawn off-topic, but there were times when Barton would make a comment that just couldn't be ignored, no matter how much Fury might want to.

Barton shrugged. "It's something to do while the Hulk is tearing them to pieces and throwing globs of slime around," he said. "At least he doesn't taste them anymore. Hulk thought the blue one would taste like a blueberry and took a bite."

Coulson looked over at Fury. "The report was made to your office, Sir," he said. "The Hulk was fine, but Dr. Banner was sick for three days while his body battled whatever chemicals had been in the monster. Ultimately medical decided that they weren't going to do anything as long as the symptoms resolved themselves within a week, and we could keep the Hulk from attempting to eat another one."

"He learned his lesson," Barton said.

"I think a more important question here is why is Hydra making slime monsters?" Fury asked.

"He said that with a straight face," Barton commented with a grin. "Sir, my theory is that they're attempting to recreate a monster from the 40s and keep ending up with slime. I mean, think about it. Slime should not be mobile and yet these clearly are, even with no evidence of an internal or external skeletal system. Something is animating the slime, which can be considered both liquid and solid at the same time, and I sure as hell doubt it's magic."

"Come on, you need to get back to bed," Coulson said. "Sir, do you mind if we keep walking for the rest of the conversation?"

"Not at all," Fury said. "What's it looking like, Barton?"

"They say that I'll be able to be walking without aid by the end of the year, Sir," Barton said. "I don't know how that's possible, given how many cracks that are still healing up, but I'll take the pain if it means I can be out of bed for half an hour."

"There's hope that some of this metal might be able to be removed before too much longer," Coulson said. "Right now it's holding the bones together while they knit, but it's possible that some of it may be able to come out once Clint is moving on his own a little more. You know that a little stress can help the bone grow stronger while it's healing. The doctors don't want to get our hopes up, especially given the amount of damage to Clint's lower body, but they've put the option out there."

Fury nodded. "We'll see what happens," he said. "It's not like you have to go through metal detectors to get to work, Barton."

"True, Sir," Barton said. He let Coulson help him back into bed and reached for the heating pad draped over the far rail. "Although I'm looking forward to these stitches being out so I can swim. Less impact on the healing bones."

"You'll get there," Fury said. "Tell me more about your theory on slime monsters."

"We know that Hydra was a branch of Hitler's government charged with making weapons for him during the War," Barton said. "We never recovered all of their notes because labs were blown up or destroyed by the advancing allied armies as they swept across Europe. The notes we have seen are primarily for guns, tanks, bullets and bombs. What if there were notes taken by the scientists that fled ahead of the armies, Sir? Notes that dealt with biological research?"

"Notes that have gone to these new branches of Hydra," Fury said. "That makes sense, Barton. I've never forgotten you're not just another pretty face, but I think I might post you to the analysis department while you're recovering. They could use a shake-up."

Coulson snickered. "I'm sure that Hawkeye would surprise them all, Sir," he said. "We need to ask Captain Rogers and the others to bring in any notes and computers that they can. If Clint is right, then it's possible that we might be able to start recovering some notes and could piece together their ultimate goal from those."

"I'll pass word along," Fury said. "Good work, Barton."

"Thanks, Sir."

Coulson was just about to move the table into position when Fury leaned back into the room. "It was purple," he said.

"Damn it, and I missed it," Barton exclaimed. "Tell me they at least got a picture!"


	29. Chapter 29

"Head back to our base, Ryan," Horatio said a couple of days later when their plane landed on the Helicarrier. "I'll report in and make sure all of this gear gets to the correct spot. Tell Grant I'm about a day behind you, please."

"Yeah, will do," Ryan said. "It's been educational to say the least."

"Yes it has, especially once we isolated that compound in the drugs," Horatio said. "I'm sure that's going to make Director Fury sit up and swear for a while."

Ryan nodded. "You're probably right," he said. "I'll call if there's anything you need to know about immediately. Otherwise, see you at home. Tell Clint I said hi and I hope he's feeling better."

"I will, thank you," Horatio said. He headed into the Helicarrier and up towards Fury's office. Captain Rogers was handling the final off-load of the gear along with Bruce, so he wasn't worried that anything would get lost in the process.

"He's waiting," Fury's assistant said when she caught sight of Horatio.

"Thank you," Horatio said. He tapped on the door and opened it. "Director."

"Sit down and tell me what the hell is going on over there," Fury said.

"It would seem that the drugs introduced into the local population were, in fact, and experiment," Horatio said, sitting down. "I was wrong in my initial assessment that they were waste products being sold to help cover expenses at the lab."

Fury sighed. "What were they trying to do?"

"From the notes we managed to recover, all of which are heading for your experts here, it would seem that this branch of Hydra was attempting to create some form of mutant soldier," Horatio said. "Hence the unusual physical symptoms from ingesting the drug. The notes aren't complete, at least what I saw of them, so I don't know what the powers they're attempting to give people are, but this isn't the only lab, Nick. There's at least two more over towards Russia."

"I'll get my intel people on it," Fury said. "None of the drugs was a success?"

"Not unless they were aiming for slime monsters," Horatio said. "I'm still not sure how they managed living slime from a human being, but they did."

"Keep working on it. I know you have a lab to run, but I need as many people working on this as possible," Fury said. "Get Simmons to link in with the group here. This is partially her field. Let's get some brains on this and see what we can come up with."

"Nick, Steve told me a bit about the Red Skull while we were loading up computer parts," Horatio said. "Is it possible that Hydra is attempting to recreate him, or a being like him?"

"They'd need the super soldier serum," Fury said. "That was lost just after Steve underwent the procedure. It's possible this is just another attempt to recreate it, but I don't think so. Barton told me they've been collecting slime monsters, which means there's a lot more running around. That isn't a coincidence, Horatio. I've attached him to the analyst department while he's recovering. Time for him to use that brain of his."

Horatio smiled. "You may not want to let him go back in the field, Nick," he said. "I think a lot of people forget exactly how smart Clint is. I also have a picture of the monster for him. Bruce told me about their collection. I have a theory about the colors."

"Which is?"

"Ryan and I found traces of the noble gasses in the drugs," Horatio said. "You use different gasses to get different colors in neon tubing."

"So the color of the slime monster could tell us the combination of drug the person took," Fury finished. "It's a long shot, but it's what we have right now. Let R&D know, and tell them from me that if I find a damn slime monster of any sort running around a SHIELD base, I will feed them to it before I let the Hulk come in and clean it up."

"Understood," Horatio said, trying not to laugh. He never once thought his life would include slime monsters, aliens, or giant frogs, but it seemed that things were only going to get weirder.


	30. Chapter 30

Barton was asleep when Horatio looked into his room in medical, but Coulson stood up and joined Horatio out in the hall. "They've had him up and walking and it's wearing him out," Coulson said quietly. "I'm not sure how things are healing, but given his pain levels, something's happening."

"I'm sure the doctors are doing everything they can, if only because they know they will have me to deal with once you've finished with them," Horatio said just as quietly. "I brought him a picture of the slime monster, Phil. It's not as good as seeing it in person, but Bruce wanted to be sure Clint saw it."

"Thanks," Coulson said, tucking the picture into a pocket. "I hadn't realized they were collecting the things, but it makes sense for Clint to be trying to distract the Hulk from eating them again. That wasn't pleasant for any of us, Bruce least of all. What all did you find in the lab?"

"Lots of puzzle pieces that need to be put together," Horatio said. "Hydra, or these branches of Hydra, are attempting to do something, Phil, and it's something we've never seen before. I don't have enough background to know what it could possibly be, but Steve and Bruce are working on it and they do. They'll be able to tell you more than I can."

Coulson nodded. "I'm sure you were able to help out without knowing everything," he said. "The way you talked to the Hulk, Horatio, is the talk of SHIELD. No one has ever seen anyone do that before. Clint's initial interactions weren't on video and everyone just sort of accepts that the Avengers are all friends with the Hulk. For you to walk up and treat him like a human being rather than a monster, that's got a lot of people thinking."

"I can understand why people are afraid of him," Horatio said. "But the Hulk is a child learning about the world. As long as you treat him like a person then he's not going to hurt you. I saw a lingering trace of humanity in his eyes, Phil, and I don't know how many people have seen that."

"Not many. Usually the Hulk comes out in battle and is gone by the time the clean-up crew gets there," Coulson said. "Clint and the others are good with him, especially Clint because they both like to jump around and like heights, but no one wants the Hulk to show up in the middle of a meeting."

"Maybe they should," Horatio said. "He's a member of SHIELD and I think he's always listening whenever Bruce is in the room. As long as he's calm, I think the Hulk might enjoy being around people a little more."

"Bruce won't let him," Coulson said. "There's still too much anger there to risk it. Not to mention lingering fear from the attack on the Helicarrier just before the Battle of New York. The Hulk doesn't react well to people fearing him."

"I imagine not," Horatio said. "There's a long path to be walked there. I'm going to run and get something to eat and hope that Clint's awake when I come back. I need to be home in the morning, but I really would like to speak with him before I go."

"He should be awake in an hour or so," Coulson said. "They won't let him sleep through meals, no matter how much he glares at them."

Horatio smiled. "Then I'll be back then," he said. "Can I bring you anything, Phil?"

"Thank you, but no. The food in medical isn't bad and they've been feeding me as well," he said. "Then again, when you're used to eating whatever you can get in the field, food in medical would seem good. I'll see you when you get back, Horatio. I'm going to find the initial paperwork on your mission and get caught up. Hydra is something I take seriously and I want to see if I can pick up a pattern that someone else might have missed."

"I'll see you in a bit then."  
****

"I'm not hungry," Barton grumbled, glaring at the plate in front of him. "Especially not for grape jello. Didn't anyone hear about the purple slime monster? They really expect me to eat that?"

"It has one of your medications in it," Coulson said. "It's that or you take it unflavored and trust me, you don't want that one unflavored. I tried it during my recovery and couldn't taste anything for a week. Just close your eyes and swallow."

Barton turned the glare on Coulson. "You would phrase it like that when I'm doped up," he said. "I want to go home and sleep in my own bed."

"I know you do, Clint, but you need to get through this next week and they'll let you go home when your stitches come out," Coulson said. "Then you can swim at the Tower as much as you want."

"I hate this," Barton said.

"You've never been a good patient," Horatio commented from the doorway.

"Hey, Pop," Barton said. "Look at this, grape. It even moves like a slime monster would."

Horatio smiled. "It seems that medical has a sense of humor, Clint," he said. "How are you feeling?"

"I hurt, I'm sick of not being able to move, and want to go home," Barton said. "I know I have to go through all of this to get better, but that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it."

"I know," Horatio said softly. "Clint, that you woke up after the injuries you sustained in the field is a miracle. You regained your eyesight perfectly and now you've hit the hardest part of your recovery, but I want to ask you something."

"Yeah?"

"You know that Phil already feels guilty for taking you out in the field while he was drugged," Horatio said softly. "He's listening to your complaints without reacting, but I think he's feeling every single pain you are, Son. I'm not trying to tell you not to complain, and I think Phil would agree with me, but remember that you both have a long road to walk to get back to where you were before."

Barton's face softened. "I'm an idiot," he said. "Phil, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Clint. You're in pain and you've never been good about being in medical," Phil said. "You have every right to complain."

"You know I don't blame you for any of this, right?" Barton asked. 

"I don't understand how, but yes," Coulson replied. 

"As long as the two of you remember to face this together, you'll be fine," Horatio said. "Maybe I shouldn't have brought it up, but Phil kept wincing."

Coulson chuckled. "Do you know how many people would have realized that, Horatio?"

"Director Fury, Clint, and me," Horatio said. "Maybe Agent Sitwell, but I don't know him well enough yet to be able to say one way or the other."

"Jasper can't read him," Barton said. "He keeps trying, but Phil's poker face is too good. How long are you in town for, Pop?"

"I have to leave in the morning. There's reports of giant frogs that I want to find out what's been happening there," Horatio said. "I'm sure I'll be back up soon though. Fury seems to want me on this case with Hydra, and I'm happy to help out however I can."

"Make sure you take at least one Avenger with you if you're going to be facing them again," Barton said. "I'd rather be there to watch your back, but that won't happen for a while."

"I hear your team coming to see you," Horatio said. "I'm going to head out. Clint, take care of yourself and call me if you need to talk, okay?"

Barton nodded. "I will, Pop, thanks," he said. "Travel safe and don't get too close to those frogs. With SHIELD's luck, they're probably poisonous."

"You had to say it, didn't you, Clint?" Coulson asked with a sigh.


	31. Chapter 31

Horatio slipped into the house before the sun was up. "JARVIS, quiet mode," he whispered. "I want to surprise Grant."

"Understood, Sir," JARVIS said quietly. "Welcome home."

"Thanks." Horatio made his way down the hall and was carrying his belt, shirt and jacket by the time he walked into the bedroom. He'd left his shoes by the door, so he slipped out of his suit pants, draped them over the chair and slid into bed next to his lover.

"You're quiet," Grant murmured, blinking a couple of times.

"I was trying not to wake you up," Horatio said. "I guess you're still on alert from the war zone, aren't you?"

"Probably," Grant said. "You need to sleep."

Horatio leaned in and kissed his partner softly. "So do you," he said. "I've missed you though."

"Missed you too," Grant replied. He looped a hand behind Horatio's head and pulled him in for another kiss. When they broke apart, Horatio was on his back with Grant half over him. "We can sleep in a little, can't we?"

"I think so," Horatio said with a smile.   
****

Ryan was already on base when Horatio arrived the next morning. "How's Clint?" he asked, handing over a folder.

"In pain and grouchy," Horatio replied. "What's this?"

"Initial report from Andrea's team about the frogs," Ryan said. "There haven't been any deaths, but people are getting sick from contact with them. Andrea thinks it's only a matter of time until someone has a bad reaction to these things and dies."

"Do we know where they came from?" Horatio asked.

"It's a small island, so you would think that'd be an easy answer, but no one seems to know," Ryan said. "They've at least matched up a species, so we know they're not aliens. The catch is that the original species isn't poisonous, Horatio."

Horatio sighed. "So we have potentially poisonous frogs the size of hubcaps on a small island and no idea where they came from," he said. "Sounds to me like a fairly normal situation for SHIELD. Hop a plane down, Ryan, and see what you can find out about recent private boats that have put in at the port, or anchored off-shore. Use our contacts and let's see if you can't find out exactly where these things came from."

"Will do," Ryan said. "I'll call when I'm on the ground."

"Travel safely," Horatio said. He put the folder on his desk and headed out towards the garage attached to the lab. "JARVIS, what else has been happening while I was gone?"

"The garage was, in fact, completed to your specifications and Mr. Stark had a team come in and install some new equipment for you," JARVIS said. "Additionally your teams have been working on their firearms training as well as reviewing paperwork procedures. There have been no problems on base in your absence."

"Except the one, JARVIS, and I don't know what to do about it," Horatio said. "This looks good. I think we can cut ties with the lab for training purposes. We're fully functional. That will make Director Fury happy."

"Indeed, Sir," JARVIS said. "Sir, if I may, I believe that Grant has the correct assessment of the situation you referred to, and you should listen to him for now. It is possible another route will open for you, but constant attacks against a solid wall are seldom productive."

Horatio glanced up towards the ceiling where he knew there was a camera connected to JARVIS. "Speaking from experience there, JARVIS?" he asked with a small smile.

"Mr. Stark had a death wish, Sir, and many times would no wait until safety inspections were complete," JARVIS said. "He is better now, having the team helps him a great deal, but he is still not nearly as careful as I wish he would be."

"Tony's a good man," Horatio said. "Let him know that if he ever needs anyone, JARVIS, to call me. Any harm to him would hurt a lot of people, and he needs to know that."

"He does, Sir," JARVIS said.


	32. Chapter 32

Horatio was walking through the outer part of the base with FitzSimmons and the dwarves when his cell phone rang. "Excuse me a moment, guys. Horatio."

"Hey, it's me," Calleigh said. "I got a note here saying that you're not going to be bringing your teams down to the lab anymore and I just wanted to be sure everything was okay."

"Everything is fine, Calleigh, thank you for checking," Horatio said with a fond smile. "Our facility is fully functional and we're going to be able to finish training here while slowly taking the teams into the field. I'm sure there will be times when we'll be working together though."

"Horatio, this doesn't have anything to do with Eric, does it?" Calleigh asked.

"What do you mean, Calleigh?"

"Well, it's just that I know he's still having problems accepting the thought of you with your family, and we've been talking about things, and he told me he's been out to the base a couple of times."

The red head sighed. "There, Jemma, check that plant," he said softly. "Sorry, Calleigh, I'm out on a test exercise with two of my lab experts. I wasn't on base when Eric was here, but Grant did fill me in as best he could. It's hard to not have both sides of the story, but I've decided it's time to give Eric some space to think about things. This isn't the first time I've had to handle a situation like this, and Grant agrees with me that the last thing we need is for me to end up in medical."

"You know Eric wouldn't hurt you," Calleigh said.

"That's just it, Calleigh, I don't know that right now," Horatio said. "He came to the base and lied to Grant about problems at the lab trying to learn my location. I would like to think that I know Eric, know what his reactions are going to be, but I haven't been able to get a good read on him since he found out the truth about Clint. Hold on. That's the one we want, guys. How much is here?"

"Not nearly enough," Fitz said, checking the readout.

"All right, let's mark this patch and keep looking," Horatio said.

"What are you guys working on, Horatio?" Calleigh asked.

"We need some specific weeds for a test on slime," Horatio replied. "I thought that I had seen some around the base and wanted to look here first before we headed out into the Glades. We might still have to do that, but this is a start. Calleigh, I know that I screwed up with Eric, but I feel like I was in a no-win situation. I could hurt him or I could risk the two most important people in my life. What would you have done?"

She sighed softly. "Oh, probably just what you did," Calleigh said. "I just wish there was a way for you and Eric to get onto the same page again, Horatio. He's really hurting badly right now."

"I know he is, Calleigh, and I don't think seeing me will help heal that pain any," Horatio said. "He's not going to be allowed on base until things change a little more. Right now, I need to be able to focus on my new job and making sure that my people here are safe. I know you and Eric know Miami well and can take care of yourselves and the others at the crime lab. I wouldn't have left you alone if you couldn't."

"It's still weird not having you here," she admitted.

"I'm sure it is," Horatio said. "I wish I could tell you some of what I'm seeing, Calleigh, but it's part of a larger investigation that's classified at the highest level. The less you know, the safer you'll be. There, Leo."

"Got it," Fitz said.

"Weeds to help with slime," Calleigh said. "That's a new one on me."

"Milkweed, Calleigh," Horatio said. "The slime is corrosive and I'm hoping the properties in the milkweed that enable it to help stop the pain from stings and bites can be amplified over to counteract the slime."

"The things you come up with," Calleigh said. "I'll leave you to it. Take care of yourself, Horatio."

"You too, and take care of Eric. I'm sorry I failed him so badly," Horatio said. "I'll talk to you later, Calleigh."

Simmons looked over. "I don't know that you should be taking all the blame in this, Horatio," she said softly.

Horatio tucked his phone away. "I handled the situation badly and Eric is hurting as a result," he said. "I don't know what else I can do."


	33. Chapter 33

"Coulson, do you know why I've received a report on the general properties of slime?" Fury asked.

"I would say that Horatio is still attempting to work out a way to effectively counteract any slime monsters we encounter in the future, Sir," Coulson replied. He looped a large rubber band around Barton's right foot and stretched it up for his lover to hold. "There you go, ten reps and then see how you feel."

"I hate these thing," Barton grumbled.

"They're the easiest way to start you back to walking again," Coulson said patiently. He put his hand on top of Barton's foot. "I won't let it snap you in the nose again."

Fury sighed. "Barton, you've been giving the slime monsters some thought. Give me your read on them now that we know a little more about where they're coming from."

"That's just it, Sir, we don't know," Barton said. "I mean, yeah we know that Hydra's branch labs are giving the local population random drug combinations trying to create slime monsters, but we still don't understand what happens to the DNA involved to turn it from human to slime. I suppose it's possible that there's some small something that we're missing in there, something not unlike Magneto's attempt to turn people into mutants. I remember reading the reports on that one. They turned into huge walking bags of water and then exploded."

"But that was a simple swelling of the cells in the body after the transformation ray hit them," Coulson said. "Rest. How do you feel?"

"Like I could run around the block," Barton grumbled.

"Then we'll talk to the doctors about that one," Coulson said. "Sir, I agree with Barton that there's something we're missing. It's possible that whatever it is was not on the computers that Horatio and the Avengers managed to salvage from the most recent lab. I'm certain our people will be able to put the pieces together, but I don't know if we have the time."

"There's also the question of why," Barton added. "Think about it, Sir. Why would Hydra want a bunch of colorful bags of slime running around. Is it a distraction for SHIELD? We're pretty well known in the bad guy circle for going in and taking care of anything unusual. Is it possible that Hydra has teamed up with another group and we just haven't picked up on it? The slime monsters could be a distraction from a larger attack being planned."

"The groups tend to fight more amongst themselves than they do cooperate these days," Fury pointed out. "I'll have someone look into it though."

"I suppose it's possible that they're aiming for something else and just have to go through slime to get there," Barton continued. "I wonder what would happen if you took one of the successful slime monsters and hit it with gamma rays?"

Fury looked up. "Dr. Banner has run a simulation on that," he said. "Along with any other type of radiation he can think of and, given he had Stark in the background, it was a large number. Gamma rays make the slime harden to the point that the structure isn't sound and the monster crumbles to the ground. Most of the different types of radiation cause something similar to happen."

"I'd have them revisit the readings from the Cube," Barton said. "Alien radiation is always a possibility and we don't know for a fact that Loki wasn't involved with this before we took him down in New York."

"Stark's been scanning the planet for any sign of alien anything," Fury said. "So far he hasn't found anything, but he assures me the scans are running constantly and will be able to give us a heads-up if anything should be turned on."

"He probably launched his own satellites to do it, too," Coulson sighed. "There are a few benefits to having Stark on our side, Sir. Loyalty among them."

"Drowning in words isn't my favorite thing in the world, Coulson," Fury said. "Barton, I know you're probably on about four pain meds right now, but start thinking about what could be on the other side of slime." He tossed the folder onto the table over the bed and left.

"The other side of slime?" Barton asked.

"Well, logical progression time," Coulson replied. He moved the band to the other foot. "Ten. If we go from human to slime, what could logically come next?"

"I don't know why you're even asking me that because there's no logic involved there at all," Barton said. "All right, fine, don't give me the eyebrow. What if they're trying to create lizard men to live down in the sewers of all major cities to crawl out at night and eat the children not safely tucked in bed?"

"I'll ignore the bad movie reference, Clint. It is possible that they're trying to alter DNA to something else and they just haven't gotten there yet," Coulson said. "The question is, what? And to what purpose?"

"I'm sure we'll find out when whatever it is invades New York, Phil," Barton said.

"Why couldn't it invade London or Paris?"

"Aliens like New York," Barton said. "I think it's the pizza, but Tony says it's the lack of shock when they show up. We have a running bet on it, but none of the aliens have been able to tell us yet. Thor doesn't understand the question so it's losing something in translation."

Coulson just added it to the list of things he didn't want to know about.


	34. Chapter 34

"Yeah, okay, those are giant frogs," Ryan said, looking at the specimens that had been collected and stored behind a glass partition at a local lab. "I was expecting them to be more green than that though."

"The original is a mix of lime green, yellow and orange," Andrea said. "Normally found in South America and isn't much bigger than the palm of my hand. We're still trying to work out what the hell happened to these guys, but the genetic code is the same. There's nothing at the cellular level that caused this."

"Growth ray?" Ryan asked.

"I don't see why not, although trying to figure out exactly how anyone could build something like that in the first place is something I don't know how to even start doing," Andrea replied. "The others are still out in the field, working with the local police to try and work out how the frogs got here in the first place."

Ryan turned on his tablet. "JARVIS, could you link me up with Tony?" he asked. "I've got a quick question and I think he's the best one to answer."

"Yes, Sir, one moment please," JARVIS replied.

"I keep forgetting we have Tony Stark as a reference point," Andrea admitted.

"Sacrilege," Tony said, face appearing on the tablet. "No one should ever forget about me. What's going on, Ryan?"

"Would you believe giant, semi-poisonous frogs?"

"We just finished a battle with a slime monster that looked like the weird grape jello medical at SHIELD is so fond of," Tony said. "You don't want me to list all the weird I've seen since SHIELD found me. I'll believe anything until I can't prove it with science. Show me."

Ryan flipped the tablet around so Tony could see the frogs behind the glass. Tony whistled. "Wow, those are like dinner plates," he said. "I wouldn't want to meet one on the road. What's the lab say?"

"That they're perfectly normal examples of their species," Ryan said. "So I thought growth ray."

Tony hummed. "That sounds like something Dr. Doom might be in on," he said. "Yeah, Doom is big on robots, but every so often he does a ray of some sort and it's always nasty. You guys wouldn't have run into any references on him. We tend not to talk about him too much. He gives us headaches."

"Indeed, Sir," JARVIS agreed. "Dr. Doom's last reported location was in Canada where it is believed he was working on a new doom bot."

"Doesn't mean he couldn't have switched over to ray at some point," Tony said. "There's a couple of other insane baddies SHIELD keeps an eye on. I'll see if Fury will release their files to Horatio and he can pass them on to you. I said you guys needed full access, Fury didn't agree. Maybe this will show him that you guys with more information is better than you guys with less. No one's died?"

"Just gotten really sick," Ryan said. He flipped the tablet back around. "I think there would have to be prolonged exposure or ingestion to kill a human at this point. The smaller guys are deadly to touch, but it's possible when the frogs were enlarged, however the hell that happened, the toxicity levels stayed the same and actually decreased as the frog increased in size."

"Viable," Tony said. "I'll pass the footage along to Bruce, get him to take a look and see what he thinks. He's really the best one for biology and living shit. I'm better with machines and Chemistry, but I can handle other branches of science if you give me an hour to figure a couple of things out. Let me make some calls, see what I can find, and someone will be in touch."

"Thanks, Tony," Ryan said.

Andrea looked over. "Slime monster?"

"It was really pretty creepy, actually," Ryan admitted. "I don't understand it and I don't know that I want to. I think I'll leave that mystery to Horatio and the team at SHIELD. I think we need a couple of these guys dead and dissected. I want to see if their bone structure is more brittle than a frog's normally would be and also if any of their internal organs have changed dramatically."

"You're going to need some really thick gloves," Andrea said. "The ones we keep in our kit dissolve."

"I've got a pair Tony made for us to use handling corrosive materials," Ryan said. "I'll try them, but if they start to smoke, all bets are off. You feel like handing me things while I'm working?"

"Sure, it beats standing around staring at frogs," Andrea said. "I keep expecting them to talk, and that fact is weirding me out a little."

Ryan nodded. "I totally get what you're saying," he said.


	35. Chapter 35

"What I really want to know is why the initial report to Horatio said the smaller guys were not poisonous, but I get here and find out they are," Ryan said. He had a dead giant frog in an adapted fume hood and was working through a couple of ports just in case the frog exploded while he was working with it.

"The original report thought these were a different frog," Andrea said. "So I had tests run when I got here to figure out which frog we were working with. The pair that got mixed up looks a lot alike, there's just a difference in the patterning on their back."

"Things like that can be deadly," Ryan said. "I think I'm going to have to make a recommendation that we approach any scene like this with more caution than we are because the initial reports could be wrong. Okay, there we go, he's open, let's see what we're looking at here."

Andrea leaned in a little closer to the glass. "Biology was a few years ago for me," she said. "I'll hit the books when we're home again. JARVIS, can you pull up what one of the smaller version of these guys would look like internally for us, please?"

"Of course," JARVIS said.

"I suppose it's too much to hope we run into some weird gland or something," Ryan sighed. He flinched when the frog suddenly exploded, covering the glass and causing it to smoke. Ryan pulled back quickly and took Andrea with him. "Well, we know that they're explosive. I wonder if that's because I killed it or because I poked something I wasn't supposed to."

There was another loud bang from the container where they had two more dead frogs. Andrea sighed too. "That answers that question," she said. "They explode if you kill them, or they die. Could be a type of weapon, given the high acidity we're seeing here."

"Yeah, that glass isn't going to last much longer if we don't neutralize this stuff," Ryan said. He picked up a bucket of base solution they'd mixed up and threw the liquid on the smoking glass. "Okay, well, that worked. We're in the realm of Chemistry now. Go pour some of the solution over the remains of that bucket. I'm going to get Horatio on the line."

"This makes no sense to me at all, Ryan," Andrea admitted.

"Me neither," Ryan said. "Hey Horatio, so whatever has happened to these frogs causes them to explode when they die. I had one under a fume hood and the body fluids started eating the glass."

"Caustic frogs?" Horatio asked.

"I don't know if they're that bad or not, but we had a base solution mixed up and it did neutralize the reaction for us," Ryan said. "What worries me, H, is that we have about sixty of these things in a holding room. We can't turn them loose, but I'm kinda scared of what would happen should they die in there. Could one dying and exploding next to a living frog cause a chain reaction?"

"Plus we need them alive to figure out where they came from," Horatio said. "I would say your best bet is to figure out what they eat and make the room as humid as possible. Treat it like a large terrarium until you can get more answers."

"I've asked Tony for help," Ryan said. "He said he'd get Bruce to help out, too. I don't know what else I can do, Horatio. I wanted to see if their internal structure was different from one of the smaller versions of these guys, but that's impossible right now. I could X-Ray one, but I don't know what the radiation would do to them, and it's possible it could cause a more violent reaction."

"The most important thing for you to work out now is if you have all the frogs that were turned loose on the island," Horatio said.

Ryan looked over at Andrea and repeated the question. "Andrea says that the rest of her team is making sure of that now," he said. "Along with asking people about where these frogs could have come from. And why here?"

"If I had to take a guess, based on what you've told me, I would say the banks," Horatio said. "Let me make some calls and I'll get back to you. Keep in mind that a lot of people have money in accounts there, much like Swiss accounts, but sometimes harder to track. With the explosive component now in the mix, we need to look towards what sort of illegal turn these frogs could be put to."

"The banks don't keep that sort of money in the branches here, do they?" Ryan asked. "No one would be that stupid."

"You know what, I don't know, but I'll find out," Horatio replied. "Make sure you have all the frogs rounded up and kept in a place where they won't hurt anyone if they do suddenly explode. Do your best to keep them alive, but let's turn our attention away from them for the moment and start looking into people that could have caused the sudden growth, explosive abilities, and would want to interfere with or rob the banks."

"Okay, I'll do my best," Ryan said. "Money really does rest at the base of crime, doesn't it?"

"Most of them," Horatio agreed. "I'll call when I know more. Be careful, Ryan. This could be larger than we're realizing. I'm going to ask Grant to send some more men down to keep an eye on you."

"Thanks, Horatio."

"No problem," Horatio said.

Ryan tucked his phone back in his pocket. "He's going to check a few things and get back to us. Right now, we need to find a greenhouse that's away from any other buildings and set it up to be a frog home," he said. "Horatio and I don't want to risk anyone getting hurt by the exploding frogs."

"I wonder if life will ever make sense again," Andrea sighed.

"I would doubt it."


	36. Chapter 36

Horatio tucked his phone back in his pocket and looked over at FitzSimmons. "I need to go make some phone calls, guys," he said. "Keep working with this and let me know what you come up with, okay?"

"Yeah."

"No problem."

"All right, I'll be in my office. Have JARVIS call if you need me." Horatio tossed his gloves in the trash and headed out into the hall where he almost bumped into Brad. "Were you looking for me?"

"Lieutenant, Grant needs to talk to you when you have a minute free," Brad said with a small smile.

"All right, I'll be there in a few minutes. I need to make a couple of calls first," Horatio said.

Brad nodded. "I'll tell him," he said.

Horatio liked Brad. He was polite, organized, and didn't talk to anyone about anything. He couldn't think of a better helper for Grant to run the base. With a small sigh, Horatio shut the door to his office and went to his desk to call one of his contacts down on Grand Cayman. There was specific information he needed and there was no way for him to get the information quickly for the primary sources. Then he called Fury. "Nick, the frogs my team are working with have shown to be a type of bomb," he said. "The puzzle is that, as far as we can tell, they are organic and have no robotic components to them at all."

"Tony maintains this is Doom's work, and hearing this, I'm starting to wonder if he isn't right," Fury said. "You'll have our files on Dr. Doom in half an hour, Horatio. I'm also going to send a team to his last known location and hope that we can catch him before he gets wind of us coming for him again. Let's get to the bottom of this mess."

"I agree," Horatio said. "Ryan's on the ground on the island helping the team and I've called to get some information on a few banks on Grand Cayman. I'm worried this is a try at getting money or jewelry."

"Anything is possible," Fury said. "Let me know what you find."

"I will. I also have a team working on a substance to neutralize slime monsters without risk to the Hulk or other team members," Horatio said. "I'll send you details later tonight when we know if this is going to work or not. I'm worried about anyone that faces them getting hurt. The last one snuck up on us, and it was our good luck to have the Hulk there with us."

"I've got Barton and a team in the analysis department working on why slime," Fury said.

"I want to know why corrosive slime and exploding caustic frogs almost back to back," Horatio said. "There may be a link we're missing."

"If there is, I'm sure you'll find it," Fury said. "Keep me updated."

"Until later," Horatio said. He hung up and leaned back in his chair. "JARVIS, I know Tony is busy, but do you have access to the various fight records where slime monsters or creatures have been defeated?"

"I do, Sir."

"Could you compile the data for me and print it off?" Horatio asked.

"It would take me a few hours to put everything together, but I would be happy to be of aid, Sir," JARVIS replied. "I will do my best to find all the information relevant to your investigation."

Horatio smiled. "Thanks, JARVIS. I'm heading over to talk with Grant. Keep an eye on things here for me."

"Of course, Sir."

He wasn't sure how they managed at the lab without JARVIS and his endless databanks, but Horatio was very happy to have him as a member of the team at the SHIELD base. He left the lab building and headed towards Grant's office. It was starting to cloud over, and Horatio would be surprised if they didn't have rain before the day was out. Brad waved him into the office when he arrived, and he shut the door behind him. "What's up?" he asked.

"The guards caught Eric along with another man walking around the fence on the far end of the flight strip," Grant replied. "They made them leave, but didn't engage otherwise."

"Eric is starting to concern me, Grant," Horatio admitted. "I don't want to blame anything on the trauma Eric has suffered from his near-death experience, but we were warned that there could be changes in behavior as things settled back into place."

"I think a call to our favorite doctor might be in the works, Horatio."

"I'll give her a call. I don't know what to do, Grant," Horatio admitted.

"I don't either, but I think getting Eric to his doctor is a good first step," Grant said. "From all the stories you've told me since he joined your team, I know this is atypical behavior for him, Horatio. I think we need to keep you in the lab buildings when you're on base. I can't lose you."

Horatio nodded and reached across the desk for his partner's hand. "You won't," he said. "Not ever."


	37. Chapter 37

"Sir, Dr. Woods is here to see you," JARVIS announced later in the day.

Horatio looked up from the test he was running with a smile. "Send her in, please, JARVIS," he said.

"Yes, Sir."

"Leo, Jemma, do you think you can handle the tail end of this on your own?" Horatio asked. "I need to deal with something."

"We'll do our best, Horatio," Simmons said. "You have your notes here, right?"

"I do, and I want you to follow my notes for the first test, but invent the second on your own," Horatio said. He took off his gloves and stepped back. "We need to get this just right and it's possible I've missed something. Don't rush, think things through, but think outside the box for me, okay?"

Fitz nodded. "We'll do our best," he said.

"That's all I ask," Horatio said. "Alexx, thank you for coming over. Come on, we can talk in my office."

Alexx looked around. "This is a nice set-up you have here, Horatio," she said. "I wasn't expecting the, well, I'm not even sure what to call him."

"Do you mean JARVIS?" Horatio asked. "He's an AI created by Tony Stark and was installed here to help us with our investigations, but also as security. JARVIS, this is Alexx Woods, the ME I worked with the most at the lab. Alexx, meet JARVIS."

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Dr. Woods," JARVIS said. "If there is anything you need, please let me know."

"Nice to meet you too, JARVIS," Alexx said. "What's going on, Horatio?"

He shut the door behind them and headed for his chair. "Alexx, what have you noticed about Eric recently?" he asked softly. "Both at work and away from it."

"Well, he's not acting right," Alexx replied. "It's like all the joy has gone out of his life, Horatio, and he's having trouble adapting to it. He comes in, does whatever he's told and leaves again. Calleigh's the only one that is able to talk with him about anything other than work, and even then it's hard for them."

"What if I told you he tried to break in here, Alexx? We have armed soldiers around and they are on a shoot to kill order for anyone caught trying to break in," Horatio said. "Most of them will maim rather than kill, but that's only because we want to know what they're doing. Eric and another man were caught trying to get onto base yesterday. The team didn't engage them, they recognized Eric and left him alone, but do you think that Eric has a death wish?"

"Oh, I don't know, Horatio," Alexx said. "If you'd asked me that last week, I would have said no, but hearing that, I just don't know."

"How badly did I hurt him, Alexx?" Horatio asked softly.

"Now Horatio Caine, you stop that right now," Alexx said. "Yes, you kept secrets and maybe you bungled a conversation when you found out how Eric was feeling, but you have a right to your life and he's more in the wrong than you are. None of us knew that Eric's feelings for you had changed, not until the problems started, so it came as a surprise to all of us. You probably more than anyone because you and Grant have been a unit for so many years. I don't blame you one bit for any of this."

"Some of the blame is on me, Alexx. I handled everything badly enough that it's possible I've lost one of my best friends forever," Horatio said. "There is no way to put all the blame on Eric. No one can help how they feel."

"They can help how they act," Alexx said. "Horatio, I'm not saying you're not partially at fault, but you've tried to talk with Eric how many times since he found out the truth? How many people have talked with him about his actions and the pain he's causing you. Eric is hurting, but it's not fair to you to make you hurt too."

"I don't know what to do, Alexx."

"First step is to get him back to his doctor for a check-up. I'll take care of that," Alexx said. "He has to listen to me, even if he doesn't like it, because he knows I'll drag him out of the lab by his ear if he doesn't. You get to work and find out who the mystery man with him is and then, once I know a little more about what's going on up in that hard head of his, I'll call and we can talk options."

Horatio managed a smile. "Thank you, Alexx," he said. "Grant and I are sleeping on base right now because we're concerned for our safety."

"Oh baby," Alexx said softly. "We'll get you all through this. I promise."


	38. Chapter 38

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, last scheduled update for a while. This is my last day of work and I fly to start house-hunting tomorrow. I'm taking my computer, but I don't know how much writing time I'll have given how many houses we're looking at and driving time.
> 
> I think I'll start doing bulk updates, three to four chapters at a time, so please keep your eyes open and, as always, thanks so much for reading. :)

Barton crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the doctor. "Clear me to fly," he said. "I don't want any hedging on this. I want to be on a plane within the hour."

"Agent Barton, there's a risk of clots if you go up in an airplane," the doctor said. "It's too dangerous for you to even try it for another two weeks."

"Then find a van I can ride in. I don't give a damn what you do, but I am going to Miami even if I have to hitchhike to get down there," Barton said.

Fury walked into the room and silenced any protest the doctor could have made. "Talk to me, Barton," he said.

"Eric's upped his stalking of Pop," Barton said. "Pop and Grant are living on base because they don't know if they're safe or not. I'm stuck in bed anyway, what's the difference between a bed here and a bed down on their base?"

"You won't be good to anyone if you die trying to get down there," Fury said. "Tell me what you have on the project you've been working on for me."

"Only if you agree to break me out of here. Phil won't do it."

"Of course he won't do it," Fury said, glaring. "Coulson has more sense than you do most days, Agent Barton. I know you're worried about your father, but killing yourself is not an option. Would he want you to put yourself at risk like this?"

"No, Sir."

"Don't you 'no sir' me in that tone of voice," Fury said. "You will remain here, complete your physical therapy and then we'll talk about possibly moving you to Miami for the next stage of your recovery. I've sent Dr. Banner and Stark down to work with Horatio on a couple of things. They'll keep him safe."

"Thanks, Sir."

Fury upped the glare. "Tell me what you found, Barton."

Barton glared back at the doctor who decided it wasn't worth trying to stay in the room with the pair of men and left. Barton sighed. "The slime monsters have a slight genetic code to them, Sir," he said. "Bruce routed me some files he was working with based on the creatures we already encountered, and he found that there is still human DNA in there, but it's been mutated to the point that it's barely able to be recognized as human anymore. Whatever Hydra, or whoever the hell is funding these labs, is working towards, they're not there yet, but I think they're getting close."

"What are they working towards?" Fury asked. "You might as well get in here, Coulson. You might have something to add."

Coulson slipped into the room and shut the door behind him. "I didn't want to come in until the two of you were done trying to out-stubborn the other, Sir," he said. "I'm interested in these frogs that Ryan has been working with down on Grand Cayman. I disagree with Horatio's assessment that there is someone setting out to rob a bank with them. It's too obvious. I think the island is an accident."

"How so?" Fury asked.

"Think about it. Storms kick up down there, sometimes without warning," Coulson said. "This particular species of frog can swim short distances in the ocean. What if the ship they were on foundered and sank? The frogs would make for the nearest land mass, in this case, an island. That would certainly explain why no one has been able to find a delivery system for the frogs."

Fury nodded. "Send your thoughts to Horatio and Ryan," he said. "We need to send a dive team in, Coulson. Let's see if we can find this mystery boat."

"Yes, Sir," Coulson said. "As to the slime monsters, I think that Bruce and Clint are on the right path thinking about a combination of super soldier mixed with mutant ability. We just don't know exactly what powers they're working towards beyond strength."

"So we need more data," Fury said.

"Yes, Sir," Coulson said.

"We have at least two other locations from the computers Horatio and Steve brought back," Barton pointed out. "Can you send in teams to recover intel from there, Sir?"

"I've got teams on the ground checking on layout, weapons, and staffing," Fury said. "Strike teams will go in with Captain Rogers in the lead when I'm sure it's moderately safe."

"I'd pull Bruce from Miami to be safe, Sir," Barton said. "The Hulk is the only one, so far, that's been able to handle the slime monsters and there's never any warning those are around. That should be a clue, but a clue to what I can't say without being on site."

"Have Steve wear a remote camera, Sir," Coulson suggested. "We could route the feed to Clint. It's possible he'll see something we're missing."

Fury nodded again. "I'll see what I can work out," he said. "If I hear you're out of that bed for anything other than officially sanctioned walks, Barton, I will have them restrain you."

"Yes, Sir," Barton sighed.


	39. Chapter 39

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been focusing on my novels and novellas quite a lot lately and have some new things published. My job takes a lot out of me and my writing time is next to nil right now. I'm taking a day away from my novels to update some fan fiction pieces. Thank you, as always, for your patience with this. I'm doing my best to get my WIPs wrapped up.
> 
> Here's the link to my author page on amazon. com.  
> http://www.amazon.com/Lexxie-Scott/e/B00BHME9QQ  
> I have books about dragons, Sherlock Holmes, ghosts, one horror novella, and arson investigation/murder mysteries. Take a look if you have a second.

"We have rainbow slime monsters and no clue where they're coming from or what they're for," Tony said, walking into the lab where Horatio and FitzSimmons were working on the computers. "We know that they make the Hulk sick when he eats them and that the slime is nasty for humans to touch. Where's the common factor that we can work to our advantage?"

"Well, the coloring could come from a hidden genetic code somewhere within the DNA of the person that's been changed," Simmons said hesitantly. "You know, like the reason people have different colored hair and eyes. Maybe there's a small code somewhere within our DNA that flips by whatever chemical is being used to turn humans into slime monsters that dictates the color of the slime."

"Good, that's good," Tony said, looking around the lab. "JARVIS, why is there no board in this room? We need a board to write things down while we're working in here. Find me a board."

"Yes, Sir," JARVIS said. "In the interim, allow me to project a screen with notes on it for you."

"Brilliant," Tony said. "So we have a possible DNA link. Birdy has worked out that there's still a trace of human DNA within the slime, so it's not totally rewritten at this point in time, but he believes that whoever is doing this is close to finding whatever answer they're after. That means we need to think long and hard about this, guys. Why slime?"

Horatio looked up from the tablet he was reading. "If we look at evolution then we do have a basis for the slime there," he said. "Isn't it thought that life sprang from some form of ooze back in the day? It isn't a hard leap from ooze to slime, if you think about it."

"I never thought I would ask this, but can we get samples of ooze and slime to look at?" Tony asked. "JARVIS, you have all the notes and things. Would it be possible to chemically recreate the slime in the lab minus the walking around trying to kill everyone factor that seems to be worked into all of them?"

"I do not believe so, Sir, however I will review the information and see if it would be possible for you to create slime within the lab," JARVIS said. "Would you also like me to analyze the types of slime and ooze that appear in nature and see if any of them have a link to the slime monsters?"

"Do that and let me know," Tony said.

"Somehow I never thought my life would involve slime," Horatio said. "Tony, you've battled Dr. Doom before. Do you think it's possible he's managed to create these frogs without any sort of mechanics in them?"

"No, not unless he's really changed his style," Tony said. He took the tablet from Horatio and looked at the screen. "Exploding, caustic, and giant frogs. What else do you know about them?"

"Not nearly as much as I'd hoped. We have a team in the water to see if a boat that was carrying the frogs to a different destination somehow sank and the frogs arrived under their own power," Horatio said. "Fitz has been trying to figure out what makes them explode, but hasn't been able to find anything workable yet."

Fitz looked over. "Exploding as a defense against predators doesn't work from an evolutionary standpoint," he said. "I mean, it does, but Terry Pratchett had it right when he said it doesn't benefit the one creature that's not a smoking crater, and no predator is going to be able to teach its young to avoid the exploding animals because they'll be a cloud of fur or something, settling around the crater."

"That's a good point, and adds to the theory that these frogs have been made to explode for some reason," Tony said. "I talked with Ryan before I came down here, and I agree that they are aimed at a target for something. We're just not sure what."

"We're also still not sure we have them all," Horatio said. He rubbed his face and stood up. "I need some coffee guys. Can I get you anything while I'm out?"

"No thanks."

"We're good."

"I'll walk with you," Tony said. He put the tablet down and followed Horatio out into the hall. "You know something, Horatio."

"It's a hunch," Horatio replied. "Just a small one, but what if those frogs were coming here to Miami? To the base itself? What would happen should we suddenly have an invasion of large, deadly, exploding frogs on our base. What damage would be done?"

Tony nodded. "You think someone is targeting you and a storm scuttled those plans," he said.

"I had a lot of enemies before I moved to SHIELD, and I know that SHIELD itself has a lot of enemies," Horatio said. He picked up the, somehow, never empty coffee pot and poured two mugs. "I just can't shake the feeling that these frogs were meant for us, Tony."

"I've heard a lot about your instincts from Clint," Tony said. "If you think they were coming here, then they probably were. So we need to start looking into who would be the first moron to attack the base here, and see exactly who they're an enemy of. You personally, or SHIELD in general."

"That's going to be the hard part," Horatio said with a small sigh.

"Not really, you have me and JARVIS on your side," Tony said. He took a sip of coffee. "Give us a day and we'll have something for you to work on."


End file.
